No more free money, honey!
Sairana Mohd Saad, Malay Mail Online
When the announcement of the suspension of JPA Scholarships broke into our news feed earlier this week, the roaring of discontentment on social media was so deafening, it almost became ridiculous.
As usual, plenty came forward with the fear of the nation’s failure of achieving Mahathir’s Vision 2020, thrusting elaborated opinion on how the country will be deprived of future Bright Leaders and that the budgeting was wrongly distributed.
Yet another conundrum under the Malaysian sun. Looks like it.
The attack was quite brutal to the point that the minister in question had to backpedal his earlier statement, resting on the fact that he was misquoted. OK, maybe it’s true.
Hence, we still have to do a bit of waiting before the final decision is properly announced — but nevertheless, the fear has set in, and panic has started to brew — leaving some Malaysians enraged that there will be no more scholarships available for their children’s overseas education. No more free money, honey!
I think only some of us are upset. And I really mean some, specifically those who are still deep in their slumber.
What are we expecting, peeps?
With the global economic conditions looking gloomy, banks tightening on credit, government cutting off subsidies and now scholarships, it seems like there will be less Dosh floating around, isn’t?
Now, let’s get real.
Free loaders will just have to get used to a life less luxurious, cut on unnecessary spending and simply live within their means. (less skiing in winter wonderlands, perhaps)
If it means packing your lunch to the office instead of dining out, so be it.
If it means taking the trunk roads, instead of toll roads, so be it.
It has to sink deep into our heads that the slowdown and bearish markets is not just Malaysia-centric, it is worldwide, and we should just take a step back and strategise on how to wade in difficult times.
It’s painful, awful and dreadful.
This includes waking up to a bitter reality that Happy days are over — those Happy Days where sending your child to a boarding school, pushing the kid to score straight As would then guarantee that their expenses of tertiary education abroad will be taken care by the government — they are all over!
That privilege given to some not-so-poor people, has now reach its expiry date — and I dare say that it annoys them that they now have to fork out their own lifetime savings instead of banking on free monies.
As for the “clever, bright, disadvantaged” children, I am sure that they will be more than happy to be accepted into a local university at a first instance, and then perhaps, secure a scholarship for their onward Master’s and Ph D. After all, they are bright, are they not?
There are still many organisations in Malaysia, who will offer scholarships for this category of children whose parents do not have the financial capacity to send them for tertiary studies. Genuine cases, that is. For these children, the deserving ones, I am sure, they will be taken care of.
As for their counterparts whose parents can more than afford it, they will have to start unlocking their Dosh from their FDs if they still insist on sending their kids abroad.
My personal belief is — if your child is a real shining star, someone out there will definitely Bank on him or her, whether or not, that child is locally educated or abroad.
A rare gem is always treasured, thus, worry not about the diminishing Free-Floating Dosh!
