Sri Murugan Centre (SMC) started in mid 1980s as a novel idea by it’s founder Thambirajah to help ensure education especially for the Indian poor. SMC always had a set of very dedicated teachers, good study programmes and most importantly in monitoring the students.
Every year at the annual Kalvi Yathirai (education pilgrimage) thousands of students and their parents flock at Batu Caves.
Good. But what happens after SMC produces top and achieving students? And what happens to the other top and high achieving students?
Like Remavathy, the sixth best students in Malaysia who scored 13 As1 in SPM (O Level) was denied a government PSD scholarship.
Only one overseas government PSD (Public service Department) scholarship awarded to do medicine for the deserving 2 millions Indians.
Only one medical seat is made available at the University of Malaya against a 2 million Indian population in Malaysia (2004).
If only SMC as the premier Indian socially conscious organisation in living up to it’s original ideas had also taken up the battle in getting UMNO to grant equal educational opportunities to all, especially the poor average and above average Indian students, SMC would have made a historical impact, especially when led by the country’s top historians taken off the mainstream simply because he is Indian.
Regretfully SMC today has abdicated from it’s duty to also demand and secure Public Universities, Matriculation JPA, Petronas, Shell, Mara, Khazanah, Tenaga, Telekom, 13 state Yayasan and scores of others scholarships for all needy Indian students as granted to all Malay muslim needy students.
Instead just because UMNO prime Minister Najib Razak dishes out some peanut grants to SMC annually, they are prepared to abandon and abdicate their true duties to the top and high achieving Indian students denied their very basic right to education.
To add insult to injury the SMC top leadership is aiding and abetting UMNO in directly discriminating these up to 13As top and high achieving students.
This coming Sunday UMNO Prime Minister Najib Razak is coming to Brickfields SMC to do damage control for excluding an estimated 2,237 top and high achieving Indian students their very basic and fundamental higher education rights (MN 10/6/10 at page 16). UMNO Najib Razak like all the previous UMNO tuans will create the illusions that the top and high achieving Indian students are being taken care of by dishing out some peanuts and certificates of recognition. SMC gets to play to the Tamil newspapers, TV and Radio gallery. They all get that feel good feeling a la NTV7. And maybe a few DBKL Bill board contracts? But at what cost?
The aforesaid Remavathy Andrew and scores of other top students have previously been recognized by the UMNO tuans but when coming to the crux of the matter, ie., University and Matriculation, in the courses of their choice, Petronas, Shell, Mara, Khazanah, Tenaga, Telekom, 13 state Yayasan and scores of others scholarships hundreds of thousands of deserving Indian students are blatantly denied their rightful and basic right to education in over the last 41 years or so.
And the SMC top leadership selfishly aid and abet these UMNO tuans in exchange for some mere UMNO peanuts, after all the good work SMC has done for decades.
The leadership should stop cheating themselves.
SMC produces thousands of students nationwide every year. But where do they go after excelling in SPM and STPM?
Pray tell us.
P. Uthayakumar
Good. But what happens after SMC produces top and achieving students? And what happens to the other top and high achieving students?
Like Remavathy, the sixth best students in Malaysia who scored 13 As1 in SPM (O Level) was denied a government PSD scholarship.
Only one overseas government PSD (Public service Department) scholarship awarded to do medicine for the deserving 2 millions Indians.
Only one medical seat is made available at the University of Malaya against a 2 million Indian population in Malaysia (2004).
If only SMC as the premier Indian socially conscious organisation in living up to it’s original ideas had also taken up the battle in getting UMNO to grant equal educational opportunities to all, especially the poor average and above average Indian students, SMC would have made a historical impact, especially when led by the country’s top historians taken off the mainstream simply because he is Indian.
Regretfully SMC today has abdicated from it’s duty to also demand and secure Public Universities, Matriculation JPA, Petronas, Shell, Mara, Khazanah, Tenaga, Telekom, 13 state Yayasan and scores of others scholarships for all needy Indian students as granted to all Malay muslim needy students.
Instead just because UMNO prime Minister Najib Razak dishes out some peanut grants to SMC annually, they are prepared to abandon and abdicate their true duties to the top and high achieving Indian students denied their very basic right to education.
To add insult to injury the SMC top leadership is aiding and abetting UMNO in directly discriminating these up to 13As top and high achieving students.
This coming Sunday UMNO Prime Minister Najib Razak is coming to Brickfields SMC to do damage control for excluding an estimated 2,237 top and high achieving Indian students their very basic and fundamental higher education rights (MN 10/6/10 at page 16). UMNO Najib Razak like all the previous UMNO tuans will create the illusions that the top and high achieving Indian students are being taken care of by dishing out some peanuts and certificates of recognition. SMC gets to play to the Tamil newspapers, TV and Radio gallery. They all get that feel good feeling a la NTV7. And maybe a few DBKL Bill board contracts? But at what cost?
The aforesaid Remavathy Andrew and scores of other top students have previously been recognized by the UMNO tuans but when coming to the crux of the matter, ie., University and Matriculation, in the courses of their choice, Petronas, Shell, Mara, Khazanah, Tenaga, Telekom, 13 state Yayasan and scores of others scholarships hundreds of thousands of deserving Indian students are blatantly denied their rightful and basic right to education in over the last 41 years or so.
And the SMC top leadership selfishly aid and abet these UMNO tuans in exchange for some mere UMNO peanuts, after all the good work SMC has done for decades.
The leadership should stop cheating themselves.
SMC produces thousands of students nationwide every year. But where do they go after excelling in SPM and STPM?
Pray tell us.
P. Uthayakumar
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