Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Selangor State government to offer education scholarships?

Read this in the Star today. The Selangor state government is giving out 10 scholarships to Malays and Indians who are fluent in Chinese to pursue degrees in China. The cost of the scholarship is about RM100,000 per person. Didn't say for how long but I presume that it's for 3 or 4 years. I was ambivalent about this move initially but I think as long as the state government BONDS these students to come back to work for the state government, it is a worthwhile policy to pursue. The state government, with far more limited resources compared to the federal government cannot afford to let these students off 'for free', like the JPA scholars who are sponsored by the federal government.

19 comments:

Anonymous said...

Is the scholarship for degrees in making charsiew or bakuteh?

Fikri said...

Dodgy link, mate. You might want to re-link the newstory.

jcwy said...

The link is:
http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2009/1/14/nation/20090114185112&sec=nation

Anonymous said...

I think it is a brilliant idea as Chinese universities are gaining prominence and stature in the world and Mandarin will one day replace English as the most widely spoken language in the globe. Don't underestimate char siew as it will be the cuisine of this century and the next.

Anonymous said...

but why in China ??
is there any political agenda ?
something fishy here.

Anonymous said...

i prefer to send my son to other country rather than china.
seriously.

Anonymous said...

Because in China you got the best charsiew, bak kuteh and Peking Duck!

Anonymous said...

Why in China? Why don't any other country? Is that Khalid Ibrahim want to play something to get more support from Chinese people?...

Anonymous said...

If Khalid send to India you would say he is hoping support from Indians and Hindraf.
Haiyaa byk susah laaa

In Malaysia the University of Nanyang Siang Pau and Sin Chew Jit Poh not enuff

Anonymous said...

Why not China? Are Beijing and Tsinghua not one of the best university in the world but with lower school fee compare relatively to those in the West? PR is prudence, cost conscious and doing the right thing unless if your are a bigot and look down on Chinese language and China.

I think some of you are.

Go support Umno lah, they allow you to go West and make a fortune while doing your degree up to a span of eight years.

Anonymous said...

I will send my kids to Tsinghua or PKU over the universities in Malaysia for the right courses. Very high percentages of Tsinghua and PKU graduates get into top American U under fellowship funding.
My son's Harvard room mate (a non Chinese) spent 1 year in PKU as part of his undergraduate studies. He graduated from Harvard with Summa Cum Laude. If PKU is good enough for a top student from Harvard U, I do not see why it is not good enough for a Malaysian student.
However, if you kids get into Tsinghua or PKU make sure they can keep up and do well. It is not going to be esay.

regards,
Frank

Shawn Tan said...

One BIG question is this: Does our government recognise any of these Chinese universities? I thought that even the likes of TsingHua and BeiDa are not recognised by our LAN. This would be a terrible move if the students' qualifications are not recognised by the government. While they may not have problems finding jobs in the private sector, they will have problems with the government sector. We already have enough problems with students from unrecognised universities in Malaysia. I find it difficult to believe that the S'gor State government would actually do something this stupid.

Anonymous said...

The BIG question is whether the student has substance, if the government does not value talent, then do not for them -- I will take the risk if I were a top student doing what I believe is the right thing. The world is bigger than BN. Fee decades ago, I was told by PSC that there is no need for more electrical (electronics) engineers, they had enough of them in the telecoms department and had no opening for scholarships in those field. I stayed on my path and now I have more than 10 US and international patents issues with my name in it.

regards,
Frank

Anonymous said...

The BIG question is whether the student has substance, if the government does not value talent, then do not work for them -- I will take the risk if I were a top student doing what I believe is the right thing. The world is bigger than BN. Few decades ago, I was told by PSC that there was no need for more electrical (electronics) engineers, they had enough of them in the telecoms department and had no opening for scholarships in those field. I stayed on my path and now I have more than 10 US and international patents issues with my name in it.

regards,
Frank

Anonymous said...

The BIG answer is : our government does recognise lots of qualification from the middle east country, even if you are top graduate from a West university, you probably can’t find a job in the government, unless of course if you are a Islamic graduate from Cambridge and Harvard.

My friend, a Beijing U graduate says most Malaysian who has the opportunity to go into Beida is because of nationality, not result. Malaysia standard is far too low.

Chinese would never become a Bumiputra although you are born here and speak the best Malay, are we not surviving well with this double standard? Is not the 60,000 unemployed graduate are with recognise qualification?

PR is here to change the rule of game, only young boy with comprehension problem can’t go along.

Anonymous said...

You are right, I know of specific cases of Malaysian Chinese applying for government jobs in Malaysia, with PhD from MIT, being told he was over qualified. He wanted to go back because he was a Malaysian -- he was rejected. One can not plan base on the government giving us a job, if you are among the best in a profession, you will find a way out. Go whereever it is in the world that can help you to be the best.
Yes, PKU and Tsinghua admission are highly competitive, except for some special cases you have mention. I am afraid most Malaysian students will have hard time keeping up in competitive courses in those places, however, if you can rise among the top in those courses, you will go somewhere. The same can be said if you are in Harvard, Stanford, MIT or Caltech and try to be among the top in competitive courses.

regards,
Frank

Anonymous said...

I'm really interested in this Scholarship. Does anyone know where I can go to apply for it? I've been overseas for a number of years and hence am not familiar with these admin side in Selangor. Thank you in advance.

Ir. Dr. K.C. Ng said...

My question is why not open it to ALL Malaysians? Why just Malays and Indians? Aren't we ALL Malaysians? Mandarin is not a mother tongue to many of us Chinese Malaysians too!

Anonymous said...

KC,
I see your point, many Malaysian Chinese are not necessary more Chinese than Malaysian Indians or Malay (no offence here). I used to think that we are all equals when I was growing up, until I read the constitution of Malaysia.
It is funny (in some sense) that learning Chinese is getting more popular in USA and there is some sense of resistance to learning Chinese in this forum.

regards,
Frank