MCA wants review of PSD scholarship quota
MCA president Dr Chua Soi Lek urges the government to take a second look at the race-based quota.
(Free Malaysia Today) – MCA president Dr Chua Soi Lek today urged the government to review the racial quotas for Public Service Department (PSD) scholarships for overseas courses.
However, he said that MCA supports quotas for the socially disadvantaged groups, students in Sabah and Sarawak and those based on merit.
“We support the quota for socially disadvantaged groups and students in Sabah and Sarawak. That’s only fair because school facilities in Sabah and Sarawak are not of the same standards as those in Kuala Lumpur or even Ipoh.
But he suggested that the 60% racial quotas should be reviewed.
Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Nazri Aziz, who is in charge of the PSD scholarships, said that the government had allocated 1,500 overseas scholarships to top students.
Of this, only 300 or 20% of the total were given based entirely on merit to students who score straight 9A+.
The rest of the scholarships are divided under the categories of Sabah and Sarawak (10%), the socially disadvantaged (10%), and race-based (60%).
“We fully support the 60% quota but there is a need to review it,” Chua said.
