Malay Indian body demands fair scholarship allocation

Kuala Lumpur, June 11 (ANI): An Indian group, the Federation of Malaysian Indian Organisations, has requested the Malaysian Government to review its policy on scholarship allocation, the Daily Star reports.

The organisation's President, A. Rajaretinam, said he was saddened about the fact that of the 1,500 scholarships given out recently, 1,200 went to Bumiputras and the rest to non-Malays.

"We are not against Umno or Bumiputras. We just want non-Malays to be given the same number of scholarships that was given out last year and the year before in line with the democratisation of education", he was quoted, as saying, after a meeting between Pakatan Rakyat MPs and NGOs over the controversial allocation of scholarships.

He said he was surprised over PSD's decision to give 80 per cent of the scholarships to bumiputras this time when the formula for the past two years was 55 per cent Malays and 45 per cent non-Malays.

"If they are going to reinstate the number of scholarships to 2,100, which was the total number given out previously, the remaining 600 scholarships should be given to non-Malays," he said.

The Public Services Department (PSD) though, is learnt to have assured him that it would conduct a review in this regard following the public outcry. (ANI)