Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak has given his assurance that he will look into the controversy surrounding the disbursement of Public Service Department (PSD) scholarships.

MCA president Dr Chua Soi Lek said in a statement today this followed a meeting among BN leaders after a National Economic Council meeting today.

Chua also handed over a report that included 364 appeal applications for the PSD scholarships, out of the total of 1,086 applications.

"MCA is in the view that 59 appeals with straight A+ in the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) should be offered scholarships for degree courses overseas.

"A total of 82 appeal cases with 9A+ in core subjects, which were originally offered only scholarships for diploma courses, should also be offered overseas scholarships, or at least a local degree scholarship based on the applicant's first choice," said Chua.

Students get courses they did not apply for

He said rectification was required for 103 appeal cases that were awarded courses the students had not applied for.

Some who applied for a law degree scholarship were given diploma in science scholarships, while those who applied for medical degree scholarships were given pharmacy degree scholarships, Chua added.

Najib announced last year that PSD scholarships would be awarded to all students, regardless of ethnicity, who scored 9As or higher, for study locally or abroad.

In May, the cabinet decided that all students who scored 8As and above in the SPM would be eligible for PSD scholarships.

Deputy Education Minister and MCA Youth chief Wee Ka Siong's claimed malpractice in the PSD's selection of scholarship recipients this year.

The party then mounted pressure on the PSD, which is under the purview of the Prime Minister's Department, to drop the interview process for students vying for its scholarship and consider only examination results in processing applications for the 300 scholarships under the meritocracy category