Malay rights pressure group Perkasa has urged the government to cut the salaries of ministers instead of scrapping scholarships for overseas students.

Perkasa argued that it is not fair for the youths to be made to pay for the failure of the leadership in managing the economic crisis of the country and its national expenditures.

"It is clear here that it all stems from the government's failure to administer the country, until it has plunged into financial troubles, which have resulted in scholarships being cut off," Perkasa Youth wing chief Irwan Fahmi Deris said in a statement.