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Sunday June 1, 2008 MYT 6:52:52 PM

PSD scholarships: Increasing non-bumi quota not good idea

By ROYCE CHEAH


PETALING JAYA: Increasing the quota for non-bumiputras for Public Services Department (PSD) scholarships without increasing the actual number of scholarships has drastically affected the bumiputras, the Umno Youth Education Bureau said.

Its chairman Ahmad Ikmal Ismail said while the bureau agreed with the Government to give more scholarships to non-bumiputras, it did not agree with the way it was done.

“The quota for non-bumiputras has increased from 10% to 45% but the number of total scholarships has remained at 2,000.”

Ahmad Ikmal said this meant that scholarships were being taken from the bumiputras to be given to the non-bumiputras.

“We object to this move because it now means 700 scholarships for bumiputra students are gone,” he said.

Ahmad Ikmal said a better way would be to use the New Economic Policy concept to increase the number of total scholarships so that the bumiputras were not affected and the non-bumiputras got even more opportunities.

“For example, if the 'cake' was increased to 3,000 scholarships, using a ratio of 70:30, then bumiputras would get 2,100 places while non-bumiputras would get 900 places,” he said.

Ahmad Ikmal said although it would require more money to implement, education was an investment that was needed to develop society and the country.

He added that there were also instances of well-performing bumiputra students who failed to obtain scholarships from the PSD.

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