SPM top scorers who did not qualify for the Public Services Department (PSD) scholarships this year will be given priority for 500 scholarships offered by 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB).

NONE Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Nazri Aziz said the 1MDB scholarships would fund students who scored at least 8A+ and whose parents earn a monthly income of RM5,000 or less.

However, he said, 1MDB would first go through the lists of top scorers who did not qualify for PSD scholarships, for whatever reason, and list them as frontrunners for the 1MDB scholarships.

"There are those who did not get placements because they did not fulfil PSD requirements. There are cases where students wanted to do medicine, but because they did not get As for some core subjects, they were not offered anything.

"These students will get priority for sponsorship under 1MDB," he said after chairing a meeting with BN party leaders on the 1MDB scholarships.

1MDB, a strategic investment agency started by Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak, began giving out scholarships from last year with the sponsor of 330 students, 300 of them SPM holders and 30 with STPM, to the tune of RM16 million.

Based on last year’s rates, successful students will be get RM7,500 annually for critical and non-critical courses at public universities, while at private institutions the amounts to be paid out will be RM15,000 a year for critical courses and RM10,000 a year for non-critical courses.

All scholarships offered will be for courses in local institutions. Unlike the PSD scholarships, applicants will not be required to go for an interview to qualify for the 1MDB scholarship.

Leeway for Sabah, Sarawak students

Nazri explained that after 1MDB was done with the list of those who scored the requisite 9A+ but failed to get PSD scholarships, it will move on to students who scored 8A+, followed by those who scored 7A+.

He said some leeway in academic performance would be given to bumiputera students from Sabah and Sarawak, with the possibility of sponsorships for 6A+ or even 5A+ students from rural schools of the two states.

“We understand that in these two states, when you say rural it is really rural, so we decided to give them some leeway academically. This will not apply to the bumiputera in the peninsula,” he said.

Nazri said the selection criteria would be the same for both bumiputera and non-bumiputera students, though disbursement would follow the 60:40 ratio – which means 300 scholarships will go to bumiputera students and the remaining 200 for the non-bumiputera students.

Study to manage PSD defaulters

On a separate issue, Nazri said the government would review the PSD scholarship programme to deal with scholars who defaulted on their agreements.

He said from 2000 till May 31 this year, 144 scholars either did not return from overseas after completing their studies or did not work with the government as required under the scholarship agreement.

This is on top of 111 such cases that have been resolved, besides another 500 being pursued by the Attorney-General’s Chambers.

The bulk of the cases involve medical students, though defaulters also include those who studied engineering, chemistry, dentistry, pharmacy, accountancy, law and business administration.

Nazri also said a large number of the defaulters studied in the United Kingdom, Ireland, the United States and Australia, with a smaller number having gone to India, Japan, Belgium and Indonesia.

“It looks like many of them (defaulters) studied medicine. We send them to UK, Ireland, where they get comfortable and don’t want to come back. We need to review our funding policy to take these things into account,” he said.