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KUALA LUMPUR (May 26, 2008): Four students from Selangor and Johor, who scored 11 or 12 As in the SPM, today brought their grouse to Parliament about not getting the Public Service Department (PSD) scholarship, joining an annual list who bring up the same complaint.

The students were accompanied by Pulau Jerejak assemblyman Sim Tze Tzin to Parliament and were received by Yusmadi Yusof (PKR-Balik Pulau).

They were Chew Kin Cheng, who got eight A1s and four A2s; Tan Kian Hin with nine A1s and two A2s; Tiow Zyn Ann with eight A1s and three A2s; and Lim Soon Seng with 10 A1s and two A2s.

In a press conference in Parliament lobby, Yusmadi said: "Our brightest students often do not get the opportunity to go for higher education to bring out the best in them. Eventually we would only encourage mediocrity and our nation would lose competitiveness in the process."

Yusmadi added that there was a rot in the selection system as no one seemed to know the details of the selection.

"The selection has failed us year after year. Often, the officials explained the system in general terms. However, we demand to know more. It should be transparent and fair," he said, adding that the social background of an applicant should also be taken into account as those in need should be given the priority.

Yusmadi also said these students have other alternatives as foreign countries are providing scholarship to them but those who took up the offers, will never return to Malaysia and this was a loss to the country.

Deputy Education Minister Dr Wee Ka Siong, who also met the students, told reporters such cases occur every year because the PSD only has 2,000 allocations of scholarship every year while there are over 15,000 applicants annually.

To stop speculation on why students were rejected, Wee suggested that the PSD give all applicants who failed an explanation. This is on the rationale that if they know why they were rejected, they would accept rejection better.

Wee said some students might have received the scholarship even they though had fewer As in their SPM because they had chosen courses that are not popular.

"Students are confident with their SPM results but they must bear in mind that there are more of them who got better results and it is impossible to give everyone the scholarship even if the allocation is increased to another 3,000 or 5,000 allocations," he said.

Wee also advised the students not to use their family background to create a sense of sympathy.

In Ipoh, Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Economic Planning Unit) S.K. Devamany told theSun in a recent interview that there are four avenues for SPM high achievers to get the PSD scholarship to further their higher studies in the country or overseas.

They are:

> Public Service Department scholarships for overseas degree programme.

This is very competitive as the criteria is 70 points for academic excellence. The remaining 30 points are for interviews, family economic background and co-curricular activities. There are only 2,000 places for this overseas degree programme.

> 10,000 local scholarships for which applications will open in June.

> Getting into a local foreign university, which has an offshore campus in Malaysia like Nottingham University and Monash University. Students apply when they get a place.

> By first enrolling in Malaysian-recognised foreign universities in USA, England and Australia. The same procedure applies.

"A student must not be disheartened when he or she fails to get the overseas programme as there are three other alternative avenues to get the PSD scholarship," said Devamany.

He said alternatively, high achievers can also approach companies like Petronas, Tenaga Nasional and Mara to sponsor their scholarships.

Devamany said the PSD must explain clearly what the method of selection is since the children’s future is at stake.

"We want parents to understand what the whole system is all about. You must give everybody a chance, otherwise people will run away to other countries.

"It is no point the government spending a lot of money to educate the children and then asking them to go and study somewhere else. These children must be given a chance and this justice (for excellence) must be done," he added.