Friday, August 25, 2006

The Dilemma

I can see what you mean Shal . Glad to hear that you are grateful to our Govt for their sponsorship in realising your dreams .

Yet here I feel the frustration of those who were unsuccessful in receiving scholarships .

Firstly , we must not forget that we are the minority of the country and we make up to about 40% of the non bumiputra community .

Thus , to be just and fair , we get the equal amount of representation in Scholarship receivers .

But then again , many people feel unhappy that they did not get even though they achieved greater heights than me and you .

But then again , justice has no boundaries . We can argue that many top students are from Penang and KL but we can't give all Scholarships to the top students from there .

Again , we must look at percentage holdings where we should distribute the Scholarship among the best few in each State be it from Kelantan , Perlis , Sabah etc .

And yet again , we must look at the reason why a student is rejected from having a Scholarship in the course which he or she applied for .

Being asked the question of why do you want to be a doctor , if you provide the answer "I wanna help save lives" , I would agree with the common rebuttal that being a Nurse can also chip in .

Hmm . It all goes down to suitability I guess . Let me reveal something about me which I believe is controversial . A minimum requirement to apply for Econs degree under JPA require at least a B3 in Econs , Perdagangan ... and something else .

But guess what . Mr Goh did not do any of those . I did the Pure 9 Science subjects plus Information Technology . My application was rejected , I appealed , and I got an interview
with the JPA officers .

I think I provided a substantial argument on why I would like an Econs degree to be my passport to my future rice and chicken . Maybe they see that I am suitable .
But I hope no one questions this scholarship awarded to me . I proceeded to being shortlisted for a newly created Scholarship under JPA after going through some camp and interviews . It
can give me a higher positioned job and a 50 % allowance increase according to the terms .

Haha . Hope I get , higher costs coming into my way next year with Uni Lodge Apartments . This will definitely help fund my budgets .

Anyway , it is good that JPA has revamped its system . Those who wanna do Medic will go through a course for suitability and stuff . They should do a test for all other Professions
too . This way , it will be fair .

At times we can contest the our minority rights . But let us not step a foot into that messy racial rights issue .

It is too controversial and I really do not wish to go there for now . At times we should feel happy that we have a representation called MCA and MIC who are always in cooperation with UMNO in discussing and outlining each community's feelings , wants and needs with a fair , just and rational mind .

And we should also be grateful that UMNO did not shut us out completely even though we are the minority and you can see Minorities elsewhere facing all sorts of issues with examples ranging from US and Australia .

But of course , here I stand condemning radicals of their race and sing praises for people like Tunku Abdul Rahman for removing his top UMNO men who were too radical and Tun Tan Siew Sin for his ability in seeing through Lee Kuan Yew's racial politics during the Formation of Malaysia .

In the words of Dr Mahathir , we Malays only want 30% of the economic prosperity cake as outlined in the New Economic Policy and the rest is shared among non Bumis and foreigners .

In the words of Dr Mahathir , do we want a huge chunk from a small growing cake ? Or do we want a rational piece from a huge growing cake ?

The Economic Cake grow because of cooperation , understanding and fairness to all . I opt for a rational piece for peace is what we seek in the land of multi cultural society .

At times I feel it is unfair to the top students . Just like the way you all feel . For those who really deserved but did not receive a scholarship , there are channels like MCA and The Star , MIC , NST .

These channels provide an effective solution by assisting you to get Scholarships , appeals and
supporting letters .

To date , I believe MCA has always been successful though not all who appealed got it impossible to satisfy everyone right), not sure about MIC .

Bumiputeras do not complain much mainly because they receive a majority amount of scholarships from JPA and all for MARA , partly from Petronas and many more corporate firms .

Probably one day MCA investment arm Huaren Holdings should start doing so too , sponsoring students overseas , the Chamber of Commerces should do so . Treat it as part of your
Corporate Social Responsibility .

Well , good to hear from you Shal . Nice opinions that we should look at their family background , issues and stuff .

But again , I hope all of you understand that my story created was a hypothetical one with limitations and boundaries .

Had Apple Struder for dinner . Yummy ... sigh ... I miss home ...


It has been a long time since I ate

sambal ikan bilis
fried koay teow
proper fried eggs - a long time since I ate this
mom's fried rice
roti canai + roti telur
the ever sweet roti planta
milo ais
teh tarik
wan tan mee
BURGER RAMLI !!!
curry mutton



Sigh . Home sweet home .

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

1st of all, how JPA chooses their candidate is never disclosed, where it is this lack of transparency which piss people off the most. It's one thing to know that you fail, it is another to not to know why? Try denying this, people with good results don't like failing. It's the ego in the working. I can still remember you being eerr.... "moody" after getting "unsatisfying" results back in INTEC.

Can you blame them for being angry? They are the top scorers in the country, yet they are rejected, unwanted. On the same time, "less deserving" people(like me;)) are getting in. How do you expect them to react? Their pride are damaged, what better way is there than to direct the anger to the ppl who think they are not good enough?

Secondly, we all live in a multinational country. Yet all the time we face ppl (politicians, to be exact) who play the race card all the time. When a Chinese/Indian protest, we are pressed down and labeled "trouble-makers" faster than Paris Hilton can make another sex tape. Yet, when a Malay do the same thing, the issue is taken lightly and no visible actions are taken, and those people cry that they are framed, that they are misquoted, that damn those media trying to ruin their chance to rip off the nation. Oh, just to mention, blogs are even more evil than the mainstream media, so ALL BLOGS SHOULD BE CENSORED. YOU ARE WARNED.

I don't have anything against Malays. Matter of fact, most Malays I know are fun-lovin, friendly people. However, it seems 49 years is still too short for our "leaders" to see through the color of our skins. Discriminatory and unfair policies are still being implemented. The contributions of other races to nation-building are ignored while they are accused of taking more share of the country wealth than they are "allowed" to.

So, tell me, can you love something that don't even appreciate your love?

Though I don't agree with, or more exact, despise people who spread bad rumours bout our country, I have some reservation for people who "can't wait" to leave the country. How much had one already endure to hold so much contempt to a country where he was born and lived the prime of his life? As the saying goes, "Rome is not built in a day."