The word \’scholar\’ has a distinct and clear meaning. It cannot be bastardised as we choose to. Wikipedia defines scholarship as an award of financial aid for a student to further his or her education. Scholarships are awarded on various criteria, usually reflecting the values and purposes of the donor or founder of the award.

Maybe something is not clear to me, and please trust me that I am not naïve on this matter either. In our larger family of five siblings and five spouses, we have six public servants and 18 grandchildren, of whom six have succeeded to get some kind of support or assistance from Public Services Department (PSD) scholarships.

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Now, is that disproportionately unfair or is the funding of their education and learning at the undergraduate level going to be unfair or wasted by the PSD?

Maybe what is unclear are the values of the PSD as donor or founder of the award. My colleague and friend Ong Kian Ming has highlighted his viewpoint on the matter of PSD scholarships, and I agree with much of his logic and arguments. But, I think there are some even more fundamental questions that need asking.

Therefore, I am raising these questions of mine to the PSD and I look forward to its clarifications. Was not the PSD originally set up as the Federal Establishment Office of the government of Malaysia, coming directly under the jurisdiction of the Public Services Commission?

Under that jurisdiction, was not the PSD scholarship programme a framework to recruit good candidates and outstanding students into the public services? Are these still the objectives and goals of the PSD scholarship programmes?

Pinpointing the purpose of PSD scholarships

I remember that in the old days they had the Colombo Plan Scholarships, the Rhodes Scholarships and, now, even the Fulbright Scholars programme from America. I am sure there are many other such scholarship programmes from various sponsors or originators. Therefore, all such scholarships, as per their founders, have an explicit or specific goal or objective.

Now, I need to be very clear. Aren\’t PSD scholarships a recruitment point for working with the government of Malaysia? Consequently, won\’t all scholars be recruited into the government public services as professionals in their fields of application of knowledge? Are not all parents and parties aware of this?

Although Kian Ming made the point that, in the past, most of the non-Malay scholars were \”released by the backdoor\”, I am aware that the same backdoor policy existed with most of the scholarship programmes of the government of Malaysia in order to allow their counterpart bumiputera scholars to work with the private sector.

I also know of another case of a PSD scholar who was admitted to the preparatory programme for the A-levels at the UiTM for a scholarship to Germany under a German sponsorship, but awarded through the PSD.

After completion of his A-levels and because of his academic excellence, the same scholar was admitted to Stanford University. He applied for a transfer to study in the US, but his transfer was rejected by the PSD. So, he applied to Gamuda Bhd and was given a scholarship.

He has since completed his undergraduate studies and is now pursuing his PhD at MIT under a fully funded scholarship. Gamuda too has agreed to release him of any bonds as the field of his excellence is electronics, which is of minimal interest to Gamuda.

My question to PSD and all Malaysians: are such scholarship programmes a mistake? Should we not allow academic excellence to thrive in Malaysia for pure merit? Are not such students the \”type of talents\” we want in order to serve Malaysian interests, even if resident with the MIT Labs?

Why do we need to have a dog-in-the-manger attitude? If it is not mine, in a control and ownership sense, they are not our children, and so who cares? It that the correct and good attitude?

Supporting \’true scholars\’

To me, I pray that the Talent Corporation can and will take over such scholarships and award them to create \”true scholars\”, \"azlan\"regardless of who funds them and how they are mobilised. If we can keep in touch with their hearts and show we care for them, then they will become our nation\’s greatest knowledge assets.

It does not matter if they serve elsewhere, because even after they become rich and famous, they will still call Malaysia their home. Do we not already do that, even when we have done very little to nurture and motivate the progress of their talents?

Even if they are not rich and famous, even if they only become a Mother Teresa, and win a Nobel Prize for Peace, is that not good enough for Malaysia? Are we not always in a hurry to claim that so-and-so was born in Malaysia, but forget to wonder why could we not nurture them into such brilliance within our country?

Do we not sometimes have short memories and overlook the abuse laid on the rich and famous, only when they have now become rich and famous? Is it not better to be involved in the journey of making them rich and famous and to ensure they get to be who they want to be, by not just being born here, but also be buried here as well?

The PSD scholarships today are no longer intended merely to recruit outstanding scholars as public servants – although I am sure that remains a priority. The scholarship programme today appears to be meant for merit-defined scholarships for nurturing excellent individuals with potential.

In the older days, the Royal Military College (RMC) fulfilled this agenda exceptionally well. I did an undergraduate thesis monitoring the progress of RMC graduates as elites in the political and governance system of the nation. The RMC Motto was \”To Serve to Lead.\” Regardless of ethnicity or geographical origins, that premier school, which is not even one of the cluster schools today, used to take ordinary students and make them into extraordinary people.

That should be the vision and agenda of these premier PSD scholarships. If that agenda does not anymore fit into a merely public services mandate under the Public Services Commission, maybe the Scholarships Division of the PSD must be moved into the Prime Minister\’s Department. Making clear that PM\’s promise is still public policy, this move would mean scholarships cannot be gerrymandered at the whim of the PSD officers.

Come on PSD, it is time to be fully accountable and responsible for your public mandate and agenda. You have to lead by example, not by default of power, authority or less than transparent motives. May God bless Malaysia.