MCA Youth has accused the DAP of exploiting the controversy over the award of public scholarships for political gain and not to help top scorers overlooked by the Public Service Department (PSD).
MCA Youth secretary-general Datuk Chai Kim Sen said the opposition party was only good at “instigating problems” to curry favour with voters but had so far failed to propose solutions to the annual problem.
“If MCA Youth is a show, then the DAP is its greatest director and actor as well,” he said in a statement today.
Chai said MCA Youth was already busy reviewing scholarship appeals to help “victimised” top students but the DAP was slowing matters down by making the public “restless and impulsive” and unable to think clearly.
“If DAP has any conscience in them, they should at least remain silent and allow us to handle this problem,” he said.
The prime minister’s decision to give PSD scholarships to all students who achieve 8A+ in the SPM regardless of race was “only possible thanks to MCA’s constant insistence”, Chai pointed out.
He urged all parties to be patient while the MCA looked through students’ appeals.
DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng earlier today called for a full investigation into the education saga which he claimed was draining Malaysia of home-grown talent.
He was responding to the recent idea floated by Education Deputy Minister and MCA Youth chief Datuk Seri Wee Ka Siong as a stop-gap move to resolve the recurring problem.
Wee had suggested that top scorers who did not receive funding to pursue studies at their university of choice first accept offers made to them before filing an appeal with the PSD.
Lim, however, called the idea “ridiculous”, pointing out that it compounded the perception of injustice as the beneficiaries of the problematic system were let off while the “victims” were punished for red-tape errors.
“How can the Economic Transformation Programme (ETP) efforts to attract and retain human talent work when the federal government officials cannot even get right the simple job of offering scholarships to the best students and instead awarding them to the worst?” the Penang chief minister said in a statement.
The award of public scholarships recurs annually following the announcement of the SPM results.
Wee had told reporters yesterday some 363 straight A+ students who deserved to be funded to study abroad had lost out to those with lower grades.
The MCA Youth chief said the PSD — which decides on the scholarships — had offered the top scholars local matriculation or diploma programmes.
Wee added that the issue would be raised at the Cabinet meeting next week.
