First, I would like to apologize for getting this article out later rather than sooner. I wanted to write it earlier, especially when it was a hot topic, but responsibilities (the World Cup) got in the way and only now am I free to pen my thoughts.
Going back to the motion mentioned above.
On the 14th of June the Malaysian government decided to cut Jabatan Perkhidmatan Awam (JPA) scholarships for students pursuing their undergraduate studies overseas. The reason that the 1500 overseas scholarships will not be given out next year is because the government simply "can't afford it", according to Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz, the minister in the prime ministers department.
Picture: Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz
The article that mentions the abolishment of those scholarships can be found here:
You know, I'm really tired of having politicians that are f*cking retards. They must think that we have the memory of a goldfish when they released that statement. Someone in the magical kingdom of Putrajaya should really learn the basics of Public Relations (PR), at the very least, so that when they screw things up beyond comprehension they could at least lie to our faces.
Huh? PR? Well...
Around the same time when Nazri declared the cut, the government proposed to build this. Then, a few days later they announced this. The travesty! Come on brader, who are you trying to kid? The government has no money for scholarships? Then please explain to me how they can build an RM800 million mansion for maybe 10 people of our royal family and an RM800 million new parliament for our MPs.
Perhaps, the government should just abolish itself and let the Sultans rule the country. Right? Right? Wrong. No. Sit down you Hang Tuah fanatic. Some Sultans and Princes are way more messed up than the government when it comes to money.
It's amazing how much you can't learn even after so much exposure. BN is made of three main components - three parties with three different races. And yet, they never learn from each other. Not one bit. Wahai parti Barisan Nasional, tidakkah kamu tahu yang Orang Cina sangat mementingkan pembelajaran? Do you not realize that Chinese people love education? Education is like the one thing that the Chinese people take pride of, besides making money, drinking sarang burung and eating roast Peking duck, and you want to take that away from them? If someone came up to me and tried to steal my Iphone.... OK let's not discuss that situation... *belai Iphone
Some of you are going,"Why is this guy talking about race? Aren't the scholarships made out of bumiputeras and non-bumiputeras?". For those who don't know, there are two big government run scholarship providers in Malaysia - JPA (the one they want to cut) and MARA. MARA scholarships are exclusive for bumiputeras only while JPA overseas scholarships consist of 56% bumiputeras and 44% non-bumiputeras. The media spin-doctors in collaboration with someone inside the government cleverly announced those statistics about the JPA break-out so that the non-bumiputeras wouldn't be outraged.
Let's do the calculation. If you have 44% of overseas scholarships for non-bumiputeras, then you cut them by 44%, let me see, what is the result, hrmmm.... someone, hand me a calculator please, nak kira brape peratus tinggal.
This is downright racism. Yes I said it. I hate punchlines and cliche words that politicians use like "change", "grass-roots" and one of them being "racism". But this is SO blatantly racist that I will excuse myself for using the word.
Of course, the media tried to help abate the issue. What was their excuse for the cuts? Reaching for the silver lining, they mention that the cuts actually means that our local universities are getting better! Now I'm all in for semangat Malaysia. Tapi tolonglah, who's leg are we trying to pull here? We have some really good local universities, like UM, UKM, UPM, Uniten, Uni Petronas, UTAR, MMU, etc, but at the same time, there's a huge growth of mushrooming universities emerging that are totally, downright, lacking in almost every aspect; be it in the form of facilities or teachers when compared to other universities around the globe.
Scholarships are good for the country. It is a good investment, perhaps the best investment a country could ever make. Spreading the wealth (non-socialistic way), which, may I remind you, is the governments job is effectively carried out when they give out these scholarships. It is a promotion given to kids who work their asses off in school. It helps the families financially who can't afford to send their kids overseas. It is a life changer.
At the very least, the government should give JPA scholarships to kids for twinning programs so that the kids can have the opportunity to go overseas if they do well, even though the period will be shorter.
6 comments:
It is an investment indeed. . . but only a good one if they get returns i.e. when students ultimately come back to work in Malaysia
haha i knew someone was going to talk about "the not going back" issue. that's the governments fault. they have all these contracts. track down those who don't return and make them pay if the government is serious about the scholarships. in most cases i see people going back and the government doesn't have a position for them. it wouldn't be right to let those people be unemployed for those reasons.
adam
Keep it up, Adam.
Remember, don't get angry - get even.
Now, are you serious not to vote for BN next time, Adam? What about PR?
It's always going to be the government's fault isn't it?
Or maybe, it's just those certain politicians who don't know how to say it right, or basically don't know how to be a good leader.
Too bad that they are the ones representing the government.
Not really. I don't blame the government for everything like people in the opposition do. I'm very grateful to the government for sponsoring me. I just think that this particular incident is a giant step back for the government, and for the Malaysian people.
It's a lose lose situation - reduce scholarships until everyone gets none (inclusive of bumiputeras) or reduce scholarships until no bumiputeras get it. They should go the middle route. Twinning programs.
Adam
there's so many other things the government can cut back on before slashing education budgets. i'm a big advocate for education myself, and hearing this just makes me want to stab people with a broken spatula.
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