Gerakan Youth Secretary General Dr Dominic Lau today praises the government for taking prompt action to resolve the PSD scholarship issue. However, Dr Dominic is also shocked by the news that the government would no longer give SPM scholarship with effect from August 2012 onwards due to the overwhelming cost incurred as the number of excellent students is increasing each year.

Dr Dominic said, “The government ought to feel happy for the fact that Malaysia is producing more and more students who are academically excellent and continue to provide scholarships for these top scorers of the nation and not doing the reverse by cutting off the entire scholarship suddenly just because the government is unable to bear the cost of giving scholarships to students. “

Dr Dominic added, “Previous, the PSD scholarship was only available for students with a minimum of 9A+ and above, however the Prime Minister was kind enough to lower the standard of PSD scholarship application to a minimum requirement of 8A+ when the 2010 SPM result was announced which brought much joy to all SPM students. But now that the cabinet has decided that they would no longer give scholarships to SPM leavers starting next year would only discourage and upset all those who are preparing for SPM this year.”

“The government must bear in mind the severe brain drain issue taking place in Malaysia and should not take any action which will further deteriorate the condition,” said Dr Dominic.

Dr Dominic also said that if money is the main factor for the removal of SPM scholarship, then the government could try to cut down on other unnecessary expenses used by various government departments. No matter what, the government should never sacrifice the welfare of local talents for they are going to be the future leaders of our nation.