Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin ordered for a probe by the Public Service Department(PSD) to investigate complaints that some SPM top scorers were not offered scholarships is in line with DAP’s call yesterday for a full investigation and stern action against errant government officials. Tan Sri Muhyiddin had said that the problem does not lie with the Education Ministry as we have already forwarded our list of scholarship candidates.
If that is the case then a probe by PSD is necessary to determine what went wrong and why there is a perennial annual problem of top students failing to receive JPA scholarships despite scoring straights A+s, while students who scored much lower were given scholarships to study overseas. Malaysians are puzzled as to how this blunder by fumbling officials can even occur. In this day and age, with computerised databases and the amount of technology available, how can such a straightforward process of awarding scholarships to top students end up so botched?
Malaysian students who have worked diligently in order to achieve their dreams now face the prospect of having their dreams crushed by a bureaucracy that is inept and unappreciative. What about the parents who have to explain to their children that despite doing their best and being the best, they have been denied their due opportunities because of a silly bureaucratic mistake that they now have to appeal for?
How can the Federal Government make those students appeal for something that they well and truly deserved? To do so is akin to punishing them for a fault that is not theirs! This is nothing short of preposterous, and the Federal Government had better get their act together or risk losing more Malaysian talent to other countries who must be laughing their heads off at our sheer incompetence.
According to the Malaysia Information Technology Report for Q2 2011, Government spending in IT infrastructure and services was estimated to be around RM2 billion in 2010 alone. Every year, billions of ringgit are spent on upgrading and maintaining Government IT systems, yet errors of this magnitude can still occur.
In any case, such an error can easily be corrected, as it is a matter of automatically awarding scholarships to every student with the prerequisite results. This is a simple process, a ‘no-brainer’, given the advanced technology available in Government systems. Isn’t spending billions of ringgit on computerisation a waste of public funds when the Federal Government can not even correct this simple but silly mistake of not granting top scholarships to top students?
If such a simple database exercise cannot be handled properly, it is no surprise that Malaysians have unanimously rejected the 1Malaysia email proposal. DAP urges the Federal government to award deserving students with scholarships immediately without any questions asked.
Press Statement By DAP Secretary-General And MP For Bagan Lim Guan Eng In Kuala Lumpur On 21 May 2011.
———— Chinese Translation ———–
民主行动党秘书长兼峇眼区国会议员林冠英于2011年5月21日在吉隆坡发表声明：
联邦政府连特优生得不到奖学金的简单错误都不能纠正， 那不是白白浪费了进行电脑化的数十亿令吉公帑？
随着行动党昨天呼吁政府全面调查并严厉对付犯错的官员，教育部长丹斯里慕尤丁已经下令公共服务局调查关有特优生拿不到奖学金的投诉。丹斯里慕尤丁说，问题并不是出在教育部，因为当局已经把奖学金得主的名单交给公共服务局。
那么公共服务局就必须调查， 到底出了什么问题？为什么每年都会发生全科A＋特优生拿不到奖学金的问题，反而得分较低的学生可以获得海外奖学金？马来西亚人都感到疑惑，为什么那么笨拙官员竟会犯下这种错误？现在这种年代，数据资料可以电脑化处理、还有一大堆科技可以利用，为什么颁发奖学金给特优生如此可以直接了当处理的事情也会搞砸？
那些为了实现梦想而努力奋斗向上的马来西亚学生，如今却因为不称职和不会惜才的官僚而梦想落空。政府要父母怎样向孩子解释，尽管孩子们已经做到最好、成为最好的，他们却因为官僚所犯下的愚蠢错误而失去机会，如今还要他们上诉？
联邦政府怎么可以让学生为自己应得的奖学金上诉？这等于惩罚这些学生，毕竟这件事错不在学生！这种做法实在荒唐，联邦政府最好马上行动，否则他们会失去更多人才，其它国家肯定早已为我们的无能笑破肚子！
马来西亚资讯工艺报告指出，2011年第二季度，政府共花费了20亿令吉用在科技通讯设施与服务。每一年，政府还花费数十亿令吉于提升和维修政府的科技系统，但是，这种不可思议的错误竟然还会发生。
无论什么情况，这种错误可以马上被纠正，因为这是让成绩优异的特优生自动获得奖学金的问题。 既然政府已经拥有先进的科技装备，这种简单的处理程序，根本不用动脑筋。如果联邦政府连特优生得不到奖学金的简单错误都不能纠正， 那岂不白白浪费了进行电脑化的数十亿令吉公帑？
如果简单数据管理都做不好，难怪全体马来西亚人异口同声拒绝了“一个马来西亚”电邮服务。行动党促请联邦政府不要再问长问短，立刻补发奖学金给符合资格的学生。
林冠英