Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Shahidan Kassim said yesterday that government scholarships for overseas study over the past five years were offered on merit, and not according to racial composition.
He said the scholarships given by the Public Services Department from 2008 to 2012 were as follows:
| Year | Bumiputra recipients | Non Bumiputra recipients | Total |
| 2008 | 1100 | 900 | 2000 |
| 2009 | 1176 | 924 | 2100 |
| 2010 | 971 | 779 | 1750 |
| 2011 | 882 | 618 | 1500 |
| 2012 | 180 | 120 | 300 |
Shahidan has definitely committed a factual mistake when he said that the scholarships were given based on merit and not according to racial composition. The truth is that not all scholarships were given out based on merit.
On June 30, 2010, then Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Nazri Abd Aziz said that 1,500 scholarships given to Malaysians to pursue degree courses overseas in 2010 were allocated under four categories.
He said that for the first category, 300 scholarships were given based on merit, with bumiputras getting 20% and non-bumiputras receiving 80%. Under the 900 scholarships awarded based on racial composition, 557 were given to bumiputras, with 480 Malays, 74 East Malaysians and three others benefitting.
Then in May, 2011, he revealed that of the 1,500 scholarships, 300 (20%) were allocated under the merit category, 900 (60%) under the racial composition category, 150 spots (10%) under the Sabah and Sarawak bumiputra category and 150 (10%) under the socially disadvantaged category.
It is obvious that Shahidan has not been properly briefed about the PSD overseas scholarships and he should therefore seek the correct answers and retract his misleading remarks.
Additionally, he should also explain the reason for the decreasing number of scholarships since 2009.
The drastic drop to 300 in 2012 is simply shocking.
Is cost the reason for the decreasing number of scholarships given out since 2009?
If this is the reason, it is not justifiable when the Prime Minister has failed to rein in his own department’s spending and has allocated RM16.45 billion in 2014 Budget estimate for his department, making it the fourth costliest ministry in Malaysia, behind the Education, Finance and Health Ministries.