Scholarship Mess

As you guys have been reading in the newspapers recently, Public Service Departments(PSD) Scholarship also known as JPA Scholarship is now a big issue. The distribution of the PSD Scholarship is now being question even more than ever by the public due to the rejection of many students who felt that they met the requirements needed both academically and socio-economic wise. Some even felt that they surpass the expectations of the scholarship requirements but yet they were rejected without even being given a single reason. I know many of my friends who were called for the interview process but not many passed, well at least up to now I only know 2 people who got it but to the rest, they moved on after a short period of grieving.

I'm sure many of us knows that majority of the local scholarships have alway given priority to Malays before the rest and some might feel is unfair but it is the way it is. The ratio for scholarship distribution might be higher for Malays but they do not necessarily alienate other races. I'd like to state that there are so many more other available scholarships up for grabs and some of them sponsor you fully without even bonding you to their organization, so why are "rejectees" just complaining to the media, shouldn't they find an alternative? There are always two sides to a story and that metaphor applies here.

Malaysians nowadays I feel "talk the talk but do not walk the walk" which is why we are still not a developed country. How are we suppose to achieve the goal set by our ex-prime minister, Tun Dr. Mahathir, vision 2020 if we do not walk the walk? We are falling behind schedule and it's time that we as the next generation, start catching up if not, by the time the year 2020 comes, we might still be a developing country and maybe even suffering from a worse economy crisis.

And it also came to my notice that every complaint made by a family or student about the PSD Scholarship, was mostly related to students applying for medicine. I mean I know there are people who applied for engineering or pharmacy who got rejected but the complaints being broadcast in the news were mainly related to students failing to receive an overseas scholarship for medicine or not receiving any sort of financial help at all. My curiosity definitely a rise after one week of reading about this issue. So maybe the problem lies within the PSD scholarship distribution and selection for the students applying for medicine? Correct me if I'm wrong but it's something I have noticed.

Here is a short list of some other available scholarships for anybody interested:

• Astro Scholarship
• MARA Scholarship
• Bank Negara Scholarship
• Hong Leong Bank Scholarship
• Limkokwing Scholarship
• Taylor's Scholarship
• Star Education Scholarship

These are just some of the available scholarships, most of them has already passed their entry date but this is just for your info. By the way, most education institutions provide their own scholarships which are available at anytime.

(The Living Legend is had a good weekend with his short term baby)