When PM made a statement that all those who obtained more than 8As in the SPM examination will get scholarships, it seems so straightforward. Yet, again there are already accusations of discrimination in awarding scholarships! I can understand if the problems arose because of insufficient places for all those who qualified, but according to Human Rights Party's letter to PM, there was a case of one with 12As whose first choice is Medicine in an overseas university but given a Diploma course in Animal Husbandry! If this is not an insult, I don't know what is.
I would agree with YB Tony Pua that if JPA cannot do it fairly, then Talent Corp should be given the task. Besides trying to attract highly qualified Malaysians back, Talent Corp should also prevent those with excellent results from being attracted by Singapore and other advanced countries. In fact, prevention might take a longer time but it is definitely cheaper and more relevant than offering incentives which did not take into account the 'push factors' such as in the unfair award of scholarships.
If our people have yet to be able to accept meritocracy in the award of scholarships, then a compromise could be struck by offering scholarships to all who achieved more than 8As regardless of race, and additional scholarships should be created to cater for those which the government has to help as provided for under the Constitution. If interviews are likely to create suspicions of favouritism or discrimination, then the results of the SPM should be accepted without question. If there are cases of students who excelled because of reliance on rote learning and not intelligence and critical thinking, then blame it on the examination system.
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