Media Statement by Loke Siew Fook in Petaling Jaya on Tuesday, 3^rd June 2008: 

All scholarships should be given based on meritocracy and quota mentality must be discarded to achieve academic excellence in Malaysia

DAPSY slams the attitude of UMNO Youth, Gabungan Pelajar Melayu Semenanjung and Malay Unity Action Front for protesting against the move by the government to award 45% of Public Service Department (PSD) scholarships to non-bumiputera students. While the move by the government to increase PSD scholarships to deserving students irrespective of race and religion is most welcomed, it is regrettable to hear those retrogressive voices from a segment of the ultra racist group against it. Again, the racial card is being played to defeat the goals of meritocracy in education in Malaysia.

DAPSY urges the government to stand firm on this agenda as it is a step in the right direction to give a sense of hope to all Malaysian students who excel in their studies. DAPSY believes that scholarships must given based on meritocracy and deserving students whether they are Bumi or non-Bumi must not be denied any opportunities to further their studies. Over the years, we have fought for more fairness in the distribution of scholarships as this is one major factor that caused the problem of brain drain in the country.

In order to achieve academic excellence and push our country’s competitiveness to a higher level, all segments in our society must discard the quota mentality to compete with the best and the brightest. We believe that even though PSD scholarships are open to more non-Bumi students, the Bumiputera students from lower socio-economic background will not lose out as there are many other channels for them to obtain scholarships such as the MARA program which is exclusively for Bumiputera students.

There are still many cases of top students not being offered PSD scholarships and they are in the dark why they failed. DAPSY urges the Public Service Department to be more transparent in the whole process and announce the names of all recipients with their respective results and scores. I have submitted a written question to the Prime Minister in the coming Parliamentary session to state the names of all PSD scholarships recipients with their results and I hope a detailed answer will be given to my parliamentary question.

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* Loke Siew Fook, DAP Socialist Youth (DAPSY) National Secretary and MP for Rasah