I read the article “PSD scholarships: Increasing non-bumi quota not good idea” in The Star Online. It makes me think that sometimes the people, especially the non-bumiputras, have all the reason NOT to vote for the National Front.
The chairman of the Umno Youth Education Bureau, Mr. Ahmad Ikmal Ismail was quoted saying that the quota for non-bumiputras for PSD Scholarships has been increased from 10% to 45% without increasing the total number of scholarships. He claims that this would mean that out of the 2000 scholarships provided, 700 more scholarships, which are initially given to bumiputras, would now be offered to the non-bumiputras. Therefore, they are objecting to such a move.
This only proves that the Umno Youth Education Bureau is not doing all Malaysians any justice, except to the Bumiputras who consist mainly of Malays, as well as the indigenous people of Sabah and Sarawak; this also includes the Orang Asli ethnic.
The main problem here is that non-Bumiputra students who score excellent results in their public examinations are denied the opportunity to obtain the prestigious PSD scholarships, as most of them are being offered to the Bumiputras. What happens is that the non-Bumiputras find themselves in an extremely stiff competition for scholarships. As competition is stiff, the non-Bumiputra students would definitely fight hard to earn their scholarship by participating actively in curricular and co-curricular activities. We can, in the end, say that those who are awarded the scholarships must indeed be the creme de la creme. There is simply no doubt about that.
Now that the PSD has increased the quota for non-Bumiputras from 10% to 45%, the Umno Youth Education Bureau sees it as being unfair to the Bumiputras. What I would like to ask them is that we non-Bumiputras are taxpayers as well, are we not? Should we not be entitled to an EQUAL opportunity to fight for a scholarship among the Bumiputras as well? The fact that the quota for non-Bumiputras has always been set at 10% would mean that we non-Bumiputras are sidelined, are we not? Why can’t we compete equally among the Bumiputras, since our parents are faithful taxpayers, we contribute equally to the development of the country, and also for the very fact that we are Malaysians? Is it merely because of the “Ketuanan Melayu” that is often heard during the Umno assemblies that entitle to Bumiputras getting more than we non-Bumiputras?
If the non-Bumiputras get more scholarships, what is so wrong with that? Is the Umno Youth Education Bureau so afraid of us non-Bumiputras jumping ship after graduating overseas? Has it forgotten that we are Malaysians? If Malaysia is not our home, where is?
Don’t get me wrong. I am not questioning the position of a Malay. I am merely questioning the rationale behind all this ruling where only 10% of the scholarships would be awarded to non-Bumiputras. The PSD offers 2000 scholarships every year. If only 10% are awarded to non-Bumiputras, only 200 would be given to non-Bumiputras and the 1800 to the Bumiputras. There are thousands of non-Bumiputras competing to be one of the 200 and thousands of Bumiputras competing for the 1800. Tell me, where is the fairness of such a system?
Still, we have been living in such a predicament for many years without much whims, for what can we do as citizens? Politicians would often ask us citizens to vote for them during the general elections, making promises that justice would be served, but term in term out we are disappointed by those we have elected into Parliament. Many promises are just empty promises. That is why I strictly encourage people who feel that if their MPs are not doing a good job, make sure you vote them out.
Ponder upon my rationale. Now that the quota for non-Bumiputras is increased to 45%, that would mean that Bumiputras would now need to compete even more to secure a scholarship by the PSD. That would also encourage Bumiputra students to work harder and excel even better in their pursuit of academics. With more scholarships being offered to the non-Bumiputras, they would also be encouraged to apply for the PSD scholarships and not resort to foreign scholarships such as ASEAN Scholarships. (Students who are under the ASEAN Scholarships are the most unlikely group of people to come back and work in Malaysia as many other bigger companies overseas would have given them the most attractive offers.) With that, we are able to ensure that the standard of education for all students regardless of race is maintained at a high level.
Mr. Ahmad Ikmal said that there were also instances where excellent Bumiputra students fail to obtain PSD scholarships. How many are those as compared to the the non-Bumiputra students who fail to obtain the similar scholarship? He must broaden his perspective without limiting himself to just Bumiputras. This would clearly be racial discrimination, and in today’s Malaysian society, racial discrimination is heavily frowned upon and the people refuse to put up with such absurdity. We can already see that from the results of 8th of March 2008.
Please don’t take us non-Bumiputras for granted. We will be able to contribute to this country for the sheer benefit of the country if only we are given a fair opportunity. For as long as there is an element of discrimination, this will greatly hinder national harmony and eventually national development. Patriotism would only decrease then.
This is not something to be taken lightly. Serious implications can result if we are not careful, both politically, socially and economically.
Conclusion: Mr. Ahmad Ikmal’s intentions based on his statement in The Star Online are indeed questionable by the public.
Henry Yew
This was my feedback to the Star.
I refer to the above article that appeared in The Star today 3 June 2008.
I was not surprised with MCA’s reaction (or from any other non-Malay based organizations for that), especially the way the headline was written.
It is time that some of the differences in treatment on Malaysians especially the right to education be removed. Education assistance should be given to patriotic Malaysians without filtering the race, religion, skin colour or their parent’s political inclination. Being ‘Patriotic’ here means that those students do actually come back to Malaysia and give back what they had learnt to the country (either by serving the country or by simply working and remain in Malaysia or for Malaysia). There are those who don’t prefer to get out of Malaysia (Malays and Bumis included) and do not want to be associated to Malaysia. These are Malaysian public funds, so it must be best used to serve Malaysia.
Coming back to En. Ikmal’s (the Pemuda UMNO leader) comments, he had meant well. In fact if we actually read his statement, he has little or no objections to the equality in percentages. What he is pointing out is that the PSD should increase the absolute number of non-Bumiputra sponsored/backed students without bringing down the current number of Malay students. The ratio is then at par, but without decreasing the absolute number of Bumi students. This means that the total number of Malaysians getting assistance in this trying economic times increases.
I think this is a good proposal and a win-win solution for the country.
I apologise but I must beg to differ from Mr. Khairudin’s views. Indeed, his views have been constructive and I do appreciate that. I hope Mr. Khairudin can accept the fact that every man must agree to disagree.
There are a few points that I need to bring forth:
1. Why can we non-Bumiputras not have an equal opportunity to compete with fellow Bumiputras in acquiring a scholarship? Why must there be a segregation?
2. Even though the quota for non-Bumiputras has been increased to 45%, I still say it is unfair. Even if the government had decided to put the quota at 50% I’ll still say it is unfair. Why so? That is because, under the most ideal situation, 50% of the scholarships go to the Bumiputras, 25% go to the Indians and 25% go to the Chinese (let us ASSUME that other non-Bumiputra races have been included). Why can we not practise a system, assuming the three largest ethnic groups in Malaysia, where each ethnicity is allocated one-third the total of scholarships? Or better still, abolish all quota systems and let students compete fairly WITHOUT ANY REGARD OF SKIN COLOUR?
3. We are entering the fiftieth anniversary of our country’s independence. Throughout these fifty years, people of all races have been working hard to bring this nation to its glory. Is increasing the quota for non-Bumiputras the only thing you can do to make us happy? What about the other scholarship providers who might be practising racial discrimination by setting racial quotas as well?
4. Students who study overseas and refuse to come back to Malaysia are normally branded to be “not patriotic”. Well, how do you expect them to be patriotic when the scholarship quota for non-Bumiputras was set at 10% (now 45%)? Do you realise that many who have failed to secure the PSD scholarship succeeds in getting the ASEAN scholarship instead? Do you not see how our talents are flowing out of the country? Our policy makers are not that short-sighted, are they?
5. People are NOT always obliged to be patriotic. Patriotism must be cultivated, not forced. With such unfair policies being set up, such as the NEP and so on, these do not cultivate patriotism, especially among non-Bumiputras, whatsoever. So do not blame non-Bumiputras for being less patriotic. And note that just because many do not fly the Malaysian flag during our Independence Day does not necessarily mean that we are not patriotic. There are many patriotic ones who do not the fly the flag, for reasons known only to them.
6. I ask that each and every one of you readers pay a visit to governmental organisations and corporations. Scout around and observe the racial composition of the workers there. Often we were told that the non-Bumiputras refuse governmental positions because the “pay is too low”. At such trying economic times, as Mr. Khairudin has put it, I highly doubt if anybody would turn down those positions, even if the pay is not very high, just to make ends meet.
7. Bumiputras enjoy special discounts and rates when they buy properties. These are privileges that non-Bumiputras do not get to enjoy. As far as I am concerned, not all Bumiputras are not well off. This goes on to say that not all non-Bumiputras are that well off, too. Don’t you think that rather having special discounts for ONE major ethnic group, it is far more people-caring for the government to give special discounts for those who are not so well off when they want to buy houses, regardless of any race? If I were a billionaire, why would I want a special discount for? I would feel degraded.
I realise that some of my points above have deviated from the main issue. I apologise for that. However, this goes on to prove that many of our country’s policies favour one ethnic group over the other. It is true that in countries like the United States where different ethnic groups may find it hard to live together harmoniously, it is of their principle that everybody gets treated fairly and equally, regardless of skin colour.
In the end, we are still in a win-lose situation overall.
It’s great to have an open and polite discussion among us Malaysians as this issue had been somewhat thorny.
It is good to know that there are young (don’t ask how old I am… you probably can find out by ‘Googling’ me) Malaysians who are passionate about the country and where the country is heading.
I could not agree with you more.
There has to be a line drawn when these privilages, that were set in place sometime ago, had to be reviewed and removed. I was one of those fortunate ones that benefited from this policy.
However, even as a benefector, I agree that education assistance given based on merit has to take over. It has come to a point where this has created more problems then actually achiving the intended objective. The original objective was to increase the number of middle-class Bumiputras back in the late 60’s till the 80’s. The original architacts of the policy, I think got it right the first time. The policy had successfully create the better balance to what we have now. The policy was, however, to expire after a certain time, when the middle class population gets to be at a better ratio.
There must be a drawn deadline on when to replace the model to be based purely on merit. When it is done, there must be a political will to actually implement it.
This does not mean that I am against assisting the Malays or Bumis, but this assistance must come from the community itself and not the government, just like what KOJADI is to MCA. This would make the community itself stronger, rather then being dependent on subsidies (just like we are too dependent on petrol sunsidies).
On your point of non-bumis with goverment or govt-related jobs, I do wish that the racial sentiment could go away. Like in economics, there are 2 force factors that affects the market: Supply and Demand. I had personally seen these two forces in an actual situation.
On the Supply side there must be a will to accept non-Bumis. Despite the policy of wanting to bring in more non-Bumi into the service, the implementation does not seem to be effective.
On the Demand side, there is a difficulty to get non-Bumis to accept a civil service or goverment job. This could be seen by the number of non-Bumi CVs that were received, and this not mentioning the quality of such CVs. (This situation was relevant as I had wanted to give a racial balance on the composition of the outfit, but could not attract the accepted (not desired) quality of candidates).
The comment I had sent to the Star was with regards on how their headline had rather influanced their readers. It had painted him as a person who disprove equality, especially with regards to the loans and scholarship assistance. I had met him a few times, and we had some discussion on how our education system is being managed, and I think the perception that was infered (accidentally or otherwise) of him in the article was not fair. I think the response would be different if the headline read “Pemuda UMNO calls for an increase in the number of scholarship awards for all races”.
I remember complaining to him on how ‘Islamisation’ had gone too far in schools to him and how he experianced the same problems and issues. I am not against it, but do so by being generic. The good principles are the same in any culture or religion, you don’t have to over do it. Again this is the problem of the implementors seeing it differently then the policy makers.
Patriotism is what the country gets back after what the country invest in a person. It’s like running the country as if it is a very large group of companies. HR investment returns loyalty to the company. If the country does not invest accordingly, the returns will not be as much. If the country fail to invest at all, then we cannot expect any returns. When I say invest, it does not mean the government gives out free money. That is the worse kind of ‘investment’ you can make.
It will take a while when the country gets out of this awkward stage that we are in. The key is planning for the removal of the privilages, and make the people ready for it, just like removing the upcoming petrol subsidies. Removing it without proper planning and buy-in to the mass, and removing it abruptly, it will create havoc within the country.
Thanks for reading the my ramblings. I think I wrote too much already, this is your blog and not mine
.
It’s indeed great to actually have people of different races to discuss this issue politely. I do realise that such issues are normally considered sensitive (or thorny, as Mr. Khairudin puts it) and taboo in nature. Not many people, youths included, would actually be so daring enough as to discuss about it openly, much less in a blog.
However, it is time that we start to ponder on certain things that have been happening over these years and decide for ourselves how WE can make things happen.
In the end, I must say that I couldn’t agree with Mr. Khairudin more. I am indeed happy to see my issues being addressed in such a well manner.
All these comments have been constructive and thus I am greatly pleased. From the bottom of my heart, I thank you, Mr. Khairudin.
For those who wish to comment on this issue, please do.
sorry to say, but i find myself earn better result than those bumi jpa scholars. Yet I am not granted a single scholarship. Definitely not boosting as I am gauging things by facts and result.
Why are they entitled for scholarships whilst I ain’t? ‘Cuz my skin is yellow?
As the non-bumi are undermined here, do you know that 1/2 of the CEO population in the Silicon Valley are of CHINESE and south korean ethnicity?
Nope, you don’t. Or rather, you are trying to deny it.
You can deny our stance here, but our race is still soaring high outside. You see Malays are trying to clobber Chinese in Malaysia, depriving our chance of education even. IN reality, the chinese prevail at international podium and.. where are the bumis?
The government definitely tries hard to elevate the standard of Bumi in Malaysia. Globally speaking, bumis are still far behind the benchmark. Singapore is fishing talents off Malaysia. Out of 10 ASEAN scholars, tell me laar, how many is bumi? Zilch? Yea, that’s right.
You can play fiddle in Malaysia. But God is fair, our hardship prevails at a larger scale, we are still one step ahead of you. You may get the best education (getting sent to UK), but remember, that is the outcome of us contributing to the 90% of tax collected. And you are proclaiming it your right as a bumi? I’ll call that a case of usurp of tax payer’s money for granting undeserving candidates those privilege.
Eh, muka jangan tembok sangat lah… your scholarship can be translated as our money you know.
You may have people breaking SPM records by taking the most number of subjects emerging from your race. So what? What contribution does he make? Top scorers in the top universities of the world (e.g.. ivy league) are Chinese and South Koreans every so often.
The question is, does the quota system really satisfy the masquerade you put up by yourself?
cool post but no point posting this kinda things when we live in a comunist country…oops…i meant democratic