PUTRAJAYA, May 18 — Only 20 per cent, or one in five, of Public Service Department (PSD) scholarships are given based on merit while the rest are allocated based on racial quotas.
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So let's take a look at the issue in a little more depth than we usually do.
Every year without fail, we hear the hue and cry from parents about the biased allocation of PSD scholarships. As usual, nothing is changed and the wailwagon starts making a ruckus again the next year, but very few people actually look at the bigger picture, and look beyond the "racial" aspect of it.
By causing controversy over the allocation of scholarships, they divert attention from the effects: less citizens who attain higher education.
The better educated people get, the more they will analyse and question the social and political issues occuring in the country.
Let's face it. Politicians like Rakyat who are docile sheep who do what they're told. They prefer unquestioning acceptance and obedience to challenges to their 'authority'. They've more or less succeeded in this goal ever since Independence, at least until last year.
Their actions are proof enough of this; certain politicians have been harping on and on about not questioning issues that they spin into racial issues. Do not question the social contract in the Constitution. Do not question the decisions of our Royalty. Do not question our decisions.
Education is admittedly just one of the tools they've used to maintain control of the Rakyat, but it is also an important one. Tying quotas to racial profiles also has the convenient side effect of inciting racial sentiments, cementing their tried-and-true 'divide and conquer' strategy.
That is why in primary and secondary school, all you're told to do is to shut up and listen to instruction.
That's why those who can get into uni have to unlearn all the "stfu and listen unquestioningly" programming imprinted on every Malaysian student in primary and secondary education.
Make them obey and listen unquestioningly when they're young, make it hard for them to obtain higher education, and the result is a large population of willing drones to work for you and support you.
Such methods are simple and effective instruments of control, and have been used since the feudal ages, and are still being used today in some form or another.
This might not be new to some, but a thought not expressed might as well have been not thought of at all, as the (most likely misquoted) saying goes, and knowing is half the battle.
2 comments:
that part about unlearning all the "stfu and listen" programming reminds me of something my lecturer in aus said. she said that most asian students do not participate in discussions and seldom speak out during tutorials. it's like most asian students studying abroad don't know how to engage in those activities. how sad huh.
Indeed, its something that's been embedded education, Chinese education especially.
Students have been conditioned well over a decade with 'stfu and listen', that they are uneasy about participating in discussions and speaking out during tutorials, as it feels far out of their comfort zone.
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