Media statement by Loke Siew Fook in Kuala Lumpur on Thursday, 2^nd June 2010:

An all-party Parliamentary Select Committee should be set up to review Public Service Department scholarship policy

The Cabinet's decision to conduct a thorough review of the scholarship awards process by the Public Services Department (PSD) is a step in the right direction. The PSD scholarship issue has become an annual affair and is very damaging to the nation building process. Every year, this issue is so divisive and had always ended up as a racial debate that tore the fabric of our multi racial society apart.

Instead of rejoicing, the outcome is a nightmare to many top students who found out that their applications are rejected without knowing the actual reasons. Not only were the top students denied transparent selection process, they have to go through a "backdoor" appeal process through the same political party every year.

However, any reviews done by the Cabinet or leaders of the Barisan Nasional component parties only, will not be able to solve the problem permanently. Most if not all Malaysians need is a broad consensus based on the principle of fairness and not a political solution. A policy that is decided based on political consideration will not be able to reverse the brain drain problem and will not ensure a true knowledge-based society.

There are many diverse views concerning the approach and mechanism as to how best PSD scholarship should be awarded. Some views even suggested that PSD scholarship should only be given with the condition that students are enrolled in Ivy-league universities. DAPSY acknowledges the concerns of some segment of the Malay community whether they will lose out completely in a meritocracy system.

As the PSD scholarship policy will have big impact to our human development agenda and nation building process, all views must be taken into consideration to achieve a national consensus to find the best way to move forward. Therefore, DAPSY calls on the Cabinet to set up an all-party Parliamentary Select Committee to discuss and gather feedback from the people to come out with policy recommendations on the PSD scholarship and related human development issues that must be adopted by the Government.

* Loke Siew Fook, DAP Socialist Youth DAPSY Chief & MP for Rasah