Yayasan Selangor, the state’s education arm, has denied imposing a racial quota on offers for its tertiary education loans.

exco interview 170408 halimah ali State exco member in charge of education Dr Halimah Ali ( right ) said that a Free Malaysia Today report that non-Malays were overlooked for the loans was inaccurate.

Instead, she explained that the loan applications by Chinese and Indian students were low to begin with.

She said that only four Chinese and 19 Indian students had applied for the loan. Of this, only two Chinese and 11 Indian students were deemed eligible.

In contrast, there were 350 bumiputera applications and 227 were deemed eligible.

However, none of the Chinese students accepted the offer, while only six Indian students accepted it. But 141 bumiputera students took the loan.

“I emphasise that the Selangor government under Pakatan Rakyat has a strong track record of providing state services to all, regardless of race, as is evident by our Merakyatkan Ekonomi Selangor agenda.

“Thus, I encourage all eligible students to apply with confidence knowing that they will be assessed fairly based on their academic merit and family household income, and not upon the colour of their skin,” she said in a statement yesterday.

One-off newspaper ads

She said that the low amount of applications might be because the Yayasan Selangor loans were not as high as the ones offered by the federal government-run Perbadanan Tabung Pendidikan Tinggi Nasional (PTPTN).

azlan Halimah also dismissed claims that Yayasan Selangor had failed to properly promote the existence of the loans, as all primary and secondary schools, including vernacular schools, in Selangor had been informed since January 2011.

In addition to this, advertisements calling for applications were published in the Selangor Times (Dec 24, 2010), Selangorkini (Jan 1, 2011) and Makkal Osai (Jan 25, 2011).

Four public briefings between Dec 23, 2010 and Jan 24, 2011 were held on the availability of the loans, which were also publicised during 11 state government functions through exhibition booths.

In a separate statement, Halimah announced that the state government has allocated RM16 million in funds for the schools in the state, with RM6 million for religious schools, Chinese schools (RM6 million) and Tamil schools (RM4 million).

Schools must submit their applications for funds by July 11.

State rep still suspicious

In an immediate reaction, Kota Alam Shah state assemblyperson M Manoharan said he was unsatisfied with Halimah’s explanation and still viewed the low number of applications by non-Malay students with suspicion.

He said that based on the list of one-off newspaper advertisements, public briefings and roadshow venues conducted by Yayasan Selangor, it appeared that the foundation was not sincere in helping needy non-Malays.

hindraf btn 151209 manoharan “They held briefings in towns like Kajang and Petaling Jaya. What about Kuala Selangor? There are 22 Tamil schools in that district alone.

“I’m sure in Ijok alone, the menteri besar’s constituency, they can find 10 poor Indians who desperately need such loans,” Manoharan ( right ) said when contacted.

He also viewed with suspicion why bumiputera students seemed to be better aware of the loan scheme, compared with the non-Malay students.

Manoharan has been lamenting about the lack of Yayasan Selangor loans disbursed to non-Malay students since last year.