Perkasa demands 67pc Bumi quota for PSD scholarships

Ibrahim said Bumiputeras must be “prioritised in all allocations”. — file pic

PUTRAJAYA, May 27 — Perkasa demanded today that the government set a 67 per cent quota for Bumiputeras in Public Service Department (PSD) scholarships to reflect their ratio in the population. “Seeing that the Barisan Nasional (BN) government, which is the ruling coalition, came into power because of majority support from the Malays and Sabah and Sarawak Bumiputeras, and also based on the federal constitution, this group must be prioritised in all allocations, including JPA scholarships,” Perkasa chief Datuk Ibrahim Ali told reporters today, referring to the PSD using its Malay acronym.

“The quota now (for Bumiputeras) is 55 per cent,” he said, after emerging from a discussion with PSD director-general Datuk Seri Abu Bakar Haji Abdullah here today.

The president of the Malay rights group pointed out that the Bumiputera share of PSD’s 1,500 overseas scholarships had fallen from 90 per cent in 2007 to 55 per cent in 2008, and has stayed there since.
Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Aziz previously said the government had allocated 1,500 overseas scholarships to top students, but only 300 of the total were given based entirely on merit to students scoring straight 9A+.

The remaining 1,200 overseas grants, he said, were distributed according to those qualified within four categories — Sabah Bumiputeras (five per cent), Sarawak Bumiputeras (five per cent), social composition or the population’s racial composition (60 per cent) and socially handicapped (10 per cent).

Nazri also said PSD had an allocation of 2,500 local scholarships and reiterated that in tandem with the prime minister’s pledge last year, all SPM students who scored straight 8A+ and above were guaranteed a place in either local or foreign institutions. Today, Ibrahim accused MCA and MIC today of exploiting the PSD scholarship wrangling for political mileage.

“When they fight for their race, they want to score political points,” said the Pasir Mas MP.
The Barisan Nasional (BN) parties have said the PSD ignored Cabinet directives by giving out scholarships to students who scored below those who passed with distinctions.

Ibrahim stressed that scholarships were a “special right” of the Malays, enshrined under Article 153 of the federal constitution.

Under Article 153, the special position of the Malays is to be safeguarded through the reservation of, among others, scholarships.

The Independent lawmaker also defended PSD from allegations of power abuse.
He said Abu Bakar informed his that students did not receive scholarships for their desired courses because they had not applied for those courses at the relevant universities.
“JPA proved to us there is no abuse,” said Ibrahim.