By Dr Edwin Bosi
– Parti Kerjasama ANAK NEGERI Supreme Council member and Chief Coordinator for West Coast Zone.
– Former assemblyman for Kepayan.
PENAMPANG: – My attention is drawn to a video going viral in the social media in which Dr Asyraf Wajdi Dusuki who is now Chairman of Majlis Amanah Rakyat (MARA) was seen meeting a group of Malaysian students studying overseas.
Dr Asyraf was heard telling the Malaysian students that each student studying overseas who are sponsored by MARA cost the Malaysian Government about RM750,000 for those studying in Australia, RM1.1 million in the United States and RM1.2 million in the United Kingdom.
The revelation by Dr Asyraf was a surprise to most Malaysians including myself as to how much it actually cost MARA sending students overseas to study.
Based on my goggle search, the qualification required is simply to be a Bumiputera and Malaysian citizen below 19 years old who scored straight As in their SPM examinations.
The selected students are therefore top achievers with straight As results in their SPM examinations who were selected by MARA to pursue studies in various critical disciplines such as medicine, engineering, education and other sciences.
The cost of sending students overseas is no doubt huge, and certainly, beyond the reach of most families.
Those who qualified and successfully selected or funded by MARA scholarship were very fortunate.
I understand MARA student financial assistance is actually offered as a loan but convertible to scholarship if students were to complete their study with satisfactory results and return to serve the country.
I recalled Dr Asyraf mentioned in the video that the funds for the MARA scholarship came from “Wang Amanah Rakyat.”
This essentially means the scholarship is money belonging to the people of Malaysia entrusted to MARA to benefit the Malays and the natives of Sabah abd Sarawak.
MARA was created as a Federal Agency to uplift the socio economic status of the Malays and natives of Sabah and Sarawak, who collectively known as Bumiputra.
One of the functions of MARA is to provide scholarships or financial assistance to Malay students and those who are natives to Sabah and Sarawak to pursue higher education in the local and foreign universities.
MARA’s role and function is consistent with Article 153 of the Federal Constitution, which recognizes the special position of the Malays and natives of Sabah and Sarawak.
It begs the question whether or not Sabah and Sarawak students who are natives have a fair chance or a fair share of the MARA scholarship from “Wang Amamah Rakyat”.
But I find it strange, my goggle search showed no information on the number of Sabah and Sarawak overseas students who were recepients or beneficiaries of the MARA scholarship.
Perhaps, there are many Sabahans and Ssrawakian who benefited from MARA scholarship.
But in the absence of data, one can only speculate as to the actual situation.
I have this nagging feeling that most of the Malaysian students sent overseas under MARA scholarship were Malays from West Malaysia and Muslim Bumiputras.
I wonder who are the benefiaries of MARA scholarships and how many Non Muslim students who are natives to Sabah and Sarawak?
As a Sabahan concerned about indigenous rights, I would like to know how many Sabah and Sarawak natives who qualified as recipients or beneficiaries of the MARA scholarships in 2023 or 2024?
I strongly urge the Members of Parliament from Sabah and Sarawak to ask the relevant parliamentary questions or at least raised the issue in their parliamentary speeches..
