Tiger may want to want have a spar with UMNO before pulling MCA out of BN ?
MCA flays ‘hero’ Nazri, defends Wee
KUALA LUMPUR: The row over the Public Service Department (PSD) scholarships intensified when MCA took potshots at Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Nazri Abdul Aziz.
MCA president Dr Chua Soi Lek said that Nazri was trying to play a hero when he criticised the party’s Youth chief Wee Ka Siong over the scholarship issue.
He added that as a minister, Nazri should have known better instead of attacking Wee.
“I’m not teaching Nazri how to do his job. If he doesn’t know the role of MCA, then it is quite unfortunate.
“We want to solve the problem, we don’t want to play hero. Whoever wants to play hero is the minister who made the outburst. He doesn’t know the issue,” he told reporters at the party’s headquarters here today.
Wee, who is also deputy education minister, had revealed that 363 straight A+ students had failed to receive PSD scholarships this year.
He alleged that there were “little Napoleons” in the PSD who acted against the Cabinet’s directive to hand out these scholarships.
But Nazri accused Wee of using the issue to gain political mileage instead of solving it.
‘It’s not a question of race’
Chua also took a swipe at ultra Malay rights group Perkasa for bringing race into the equation.
According to a Malaysian Insider report, Perkasa information chief Ruslam Kassim claimed that many Malay students were not getting help from PSD.
Warning MIC and MCA not to create trouble (out of the scholarship issue), Ruslam called for Malay rights to be given priority.
Chua said that Perkasa did not know what it was talking about, adding that there was already a 60% Bumiputera quota for foreign PSD scholarships.
The rest of the quota were given out to students based on merit (20%), those from East Malaysia (10%) and the handicapped (10%).
“It is not a question of race. Perkasa, if you don’t understand the issue, don’t say anything. When you open your mouth, you will only reveal what you don’t know,” he said.
Chua also said that both he and Wee met PSD director-general Abu Bakar Abdullah earlier today.
He said that Abu Bakar admitted that there were weaknesses in his department, and that corrections would be made.
Chua also noted that scholarships were erroneously handed out to students who lacked the aptitude for these courses.
“There are students who asked for (scholarships in) course A but would be given (schorlarships in) course B. Some asked for degrees, but would be given diplomas,” he said.
“These are bureaucratic problems that can be sorted out,” he added.
Chua said that a total of 1,552 Chinese students had received foreign and local scholarships out of 4,000.
He also denied allegations that students who scored 9A+ results in their 2010 SPM examination did not receive scholarship.
“It is not true that they didn’t get scholarship. They probably didn’t get the scholarship of their choice,” he said.
In an unrelated matter, MCA announced the building of a Chinese museum in Malacca.
Chua said that the museum would show the contributions of the Chinese from pre-Independence right up to the drafting of the 1Malaysia idea.
He added that the Malacca government had agreed with the plan, and was identifying a site for the museum.
Chua also defended this move, saying that it was an MCA initiative rather than a government one.
Also read:
Comments