Media statement by Lim Guan Eng in Komtar, George Town on Wednesday, 25^th May 2011: 

The public is not interested who is trying to play the hero but the real hero is the one who can ensure that all top students can receive PSD scholarships 

UMNO and MCA's public spat over who is right in the granting of the PSD scholarships does not resolve the fundamental question of gross injustice felt by many top students who did not receive the scholarships. The public is not interested who is trying to play the hero but the real hero is the one who can ensure that all top students can receive PSD scholarships.

The public is terribly confused with the differing accounts given by both UMNO and MCA even though both have Ministers in the same Cabinet. This lack of direction and mass confusion would have been comical if not for the fact that innocent top students have become unfortunate victims of this struggle between UMNO and MCA.

If MCA is correct, why is it that no action has been taken against those errant government officials who fail to award scholarships to top students and immediately correct the error by awarding them the scholarships? However if UMNO is correct, then MCA should then apologise to the top students and press UMNO to change the policy to grant PSD scholarships to all top students regardless of race or religion.

This annual problem of top students not getting PSD scholarships but given to those with poorer results makes a complete mockery of BN's claims that the education system is based on merit and performance. Further the failure to reward top students will only accelerate the brain drain and severely undermines effort to attract and retain human talent.

Malaysian students who have worked diligently in order to achieve their dreams now face the prospect of having their dreams crushed by a bureaucracy that is inept and unappreciative. What about the parents who have to explain to their children that despite doing their best and being the best, they have been denied their due opportunities because of a silly bureaucratic mistake that they now have to appeal for?

How can the Federal Government make those students appeal for something that they well and truly deserved? To do so is akin to punishing them for a fault that is not theirs! DAP hopes that BN would stop this political football between UMNO and MCA but ensure that all top students not be made sacrificial victims as the Malay saying goes, "Gajah dengan gajah bertembung, pelanduk mati di tengah-tengah."

*Lim Guan Eng, Penang Chief Minister