KUALA LUMPUR – Lim Guan Eng (Bagan – PH) has urged Putrajaya to disclose details about recipients of government scholarships who studied abroad and returned to serve in the civil service.
Speaking during the Budget 2025 debates in Parliament today, Lim said that it would be a waste if successful Malaysian students enrolled in Ivy League or Oxbridge institutions fail to return after receiving public funds.
Referring to a written parliamentary answer by the Prime Minister’s Department on July 16, the DAP leader pointed out that since 2017, RM854 million was spent by the Public Service Department (JPA) to fund the studies of 1,640 students, comprising 62% Malays and 37% non-Malays.
Meanwhile, he also highlighted that Khazanah, Permodalan Nasional Berhad (PNB) and Petronas spent RM2.12 billion to educate 3,522 Malaysians, comprising 80% bumiputeras and 20% non-bumiputeras.
“We spent all this money and we can’t let others benefit from it,” Lim told Parliament today.
Meanwhile, the DAP lawmaker recommended that Putrajaya set up a fund to reward high-achieving students with scholarships regardless of their race.
He said this would prevent successful students who are qualified to enter the world’s best universities from being “seized” by other countries with their own scholarship offers.
“There have been many stories where scholarship applications or university placements for outstanding students are rejected only to lose their talent and services to other nations.
“As a developing country, we cannot continue to lose these crucial human resources, in addition to the approximately 2 million Malaysians currently working abroad.
“It is a great loss for the nation if we export skilled, trained, and high-value workers only to replace them with low-skilled and low-value foreign labour,” Lim added. – November 13, 2024