Media statement by Lim Guan Eng in Komtar, George Town on Thursday, 2^nd June 2011: 

MCA has failed the 86 SPM top scorers and destroyed their dreams again by breaking their own promise of awarding them PSD Overseas Scholarships given to other SPM top scorers  

DAP express grave disappointment at the BN Federal government's decision that the 86 SPM top scorers who failed to qualify for this year's Public Service Department (PSD) scholarship grants will not be give overseas scholarships but instead be given places in local private colleges and universities. It was only on May 27 that MCA President Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek announced to the press that he had told the prime minister in a meeting that top SPM students should be given scholarships to study abroad despite Putrajaya's claim that it did not make any such promise.

MCA's failure to fulfil their own promise that the 86 SPM top scorers be given the same PSD overseas scholarships given to other top SPM scorers is not only unjust but may further hasten the brain drain of young talents. Is it fair that 300 top scorers get overseas scholarships but not the 86 who are also top scorers?

MCA, SUPP and Gerakan Ministers must explain why they did not dare to press for overseas scholarships for all top scorers in Cabinet or to uphold transparency and accountability by revealing the full list of those who got overseas scholarships and their results? Clearly MCA has failed the 86 SPM top scorers and destroyed their dreams again by breaking their own promise of awarding them PSD overseas scholarships given to other top SPM scorers. MCA has also failed to find a permanent solution to this annual problem which will recur again next year.

This is not a racial issue as out of the 86 students who appealed, three were Malay Bumiputera, one Sarawak Bumiputera, 71 Chinese and 11 Indian. The danger for those top scorers who feel unappreciated will tend to migrate to other countries upon graduation. It is not just non-Malay top scorers who are migrating, even top Malays are doing so.

Universiti Utara Malaysia's Dr Ahmad Zaharuddin Sani said in the in the state of Victoria in Australia, there were about 5,000 Malays, three-fourths of them either permanent residents or Australian citizens. The fellow at University of Melbourne's Asia Institute said they were both professionals doctors and engineers and support staff.

Since Merdeka, more than 2 million Malaysians have migrated - a sheer loss of human talent which Malaysia can ill-afford. Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak has identified human capital as one the primary resource to escape the middle-income trap and turn Malaysia into a high-income economy. Failure to retain and appreciate our top scorers will only adversely impact and jeorpardise efforts to have a per capita GNP of US15,000 by 2020.

*Lim Guan Eng, Penang Chief Minister