Top scorers doubly suffer in the government’s decision to cut the number of Public Service Department scholarships for overseas studies, the Malaysian Progressives in Australia (MPOZ) group said.

Not only are these students deprived of studying at top universities abroad, their next option – local public varsities – are faced with budget cuts of more than RM2 billion, MPOZ said in a statement today.

Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak last week announced that PSD scholarships and bursaries are now limited to studies in local universities only.

PSD scholarships for overseas studies will only be awarded to the top 20 SPM scorers and 200 students undertaking engineering degrees in South Korea, Japan, France and Germany.

MPOZ said some may argue that limiting undergraduate scholarships for studies abroad will keep the best and brightest in local varsities and boost the institutions.

However, this does not make sense, given the drastic allocation cut for the Higher Education Ministry in Budget 2016, said the group, which comprises Malaysian students in Australia.

“We think that the government is absolutely unwise to reduce the budget at the expense of our students.

“There are better methods to amend the budget by downsizing the operational budget, which constitutes 80 percent of the budget, than to sacrifice the future of our students.”

Temporary measure

Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Wee Ka Siong last week urged students to understand that this temporary measure is needed in times of austerity.

Wee said the government just cannot afford to spare RM1 billion to send the 744 bursary students abroad.

The PSD bursary programme is available for high-achieving pre-university graduates while the PSD scholarship programme is for top SPM leavers.

According to Najib, the PSD bursaries can be used for studies at private and public universities.

PSD bursaries and scholarships are highly-coveted and given on merit, without racial preferences.

MPOZ said this means the decision to limit PSD bursaries and scholarships could lead to inter-ethnic tensions.

It said there are more seats for bumiputera students compared to non-bumiputera students, which could see non-bumiputera students resorting to private universities at much higher costs.

“Hence, this PSD issue must not be treated as an isolated case, but as a source for ethnic dissatisfaction and a symptom of the condition that is institutional racism,” MPOZ said.

It said the announcement by Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak last week was also ill-timed because many of the bursary students had already secured spots in top universities abroad.

“These students had applied to overseas universities as early as last year and had received confirmation but now do not have the alternative solutions to begin their academic year.

“The government body ought to have practised a soft landing procedure to ensure that all students could adapt themselves to this change,” MPOZ added.