From: eoahmad@ntuix.ntu.ac.sg (Othman Ahmad)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.asean
Subject: Re: Civil Eng. in U.M. (RE. Elect. Eng. in U.M.)
Date: 28 Sep 92 09:33:24 GMT
Organization: Nanyang Technological University - Singapore
X-Newsreader: Tin 1.1 PL4

mlt@gdwb.oz.au (Mee Teng) writes:
: The article posted by Mr. T.T. Hooi regarding Electrical Eng.
: course actually applies to other disciplines as well. An ex-Prof.
: of mine (Civil Dept.) told me some 4 years ago that his class has
: about 30 non- Bumi students all with 4 or 5 A's , while the other half
: of the class made up of Bumi  has very poor results. He had great 
: difficulties teaching the class. (By the way the Prof. is an Indian)
: The follwing year I met the Prof. again . This time he put up his
: house in Sea Park for sale. The reason ? He contract was not renewed
: (after lecturing for some 25 years there !) because he failed 27 Bumi

He may be applying the US sytem of averages. Don't you know that in UK the
entrance requirement can be as low as CDD, or even lower and yet not all of them
failed just like that. At least some of them got general degrees.
	In NTU about half of them got general degrees but they do not have
third class honours. Almost all of them pass though.

	The horror stories were cases of bumi students who were told by 
their lecturers that he had to fail them because he is discriminated in
Malaysia. Given the large disparaty in qualifications it is easy to spot the
bumis from non-bumis.
	Also I heard one case of a student who failed at UM but managed to get
first class honours in UK.
	I just quote you the views of the Malays. These cases only happen at UM,
not at other local universities. These also happen a long time ago. It may
change now.

: students. !! I am not saying that Bumi students are all lousy but that
: the good Bumi students have all gone to overseas (almost all if
: not all with gov't scholarships). The better to do non-Bumi may be
: able to squeeze their income to send their children oversea, but the  

In my time, 1977, I remember vaguely that the number of private Malaysian
students outnumber goverment scholars(mostly bumis) although the number of
government scholars was in 20,000.
	I even met some private Malay students who did not qualify because they
are doing accounts or other subjects, but they are small in number. The one
I met was a strong UMNO supporter. His family is a reasonably big shot. 
I believe he was trying to get his scholarship if he got through his initial
years.

: poorer ones will just have to fight it out in local Uni. Talking
: about scholarships ? huh what a joke ! How many non-bumi have
: that previlege ? not reading newspaper advertisements ? That is
: even a greater joke !! The number of scholarships for non-bumi are 

You have not disputed the fact which I quoted as saying that one non-bumi 
actually got scholarchip when he was finally persuaded to apply.

: extremely limited if any !! More often than not it's through some
: 'connections' that the non-bumi get any scholarships !!  Please 
: check out your facts if anyone wants to flame me !!
	You have not denied my facts or put forward your facts. You do not deny
that a lot of non-bumis actually did not apply for scholarship.

I've talked to a lot of chinese class mates who do not bother to apply because
they thought that they can never get it. These are facts as observed by me,
in Sabah.

CAn some non-bumi quote instances of applying and how many they actually
applied?
 
I had to apply to a lot of scholarships
before I got my offer. I did not just sit down. A lot of bumis actually failed
to get scholarships because they do not bother to apply, or miss the better
ones.
	In my case I had to apply to Sabah Foundation,Sabah State,
got rejected because they do not offer any at that time. They can only
do that if they advertise and I tend to miss the newspaper advertisements.
KTM rejected because it is not relevant since I'm a Sabahan,Sarawak
Shell, no reason given.
	I did not apply to Mara, Education Department because they do not
advertise so I was surprised to note that many of my colleages actually got
scholarships from these bodies.
	Finally I got an offer from JPA but I still had to go through an 
interview. Sabah Electricity Board fianally advertised and I applied but they
asked me to go to KK for an interview which I can't afford at that time.

Knowing the right connection apply not only to non-bumi but also to bumis as
well. I'm indeed very qualified but I did not take chances even when I'm a
bumi even when I was only 17 at that time(looking back). Imagine that I cannot
get a place at my Sixth form because they are sure that I can get a scholarship.

I had to convince the principal to admit me just in case.

At the present moment the government do not like giving scholarships, only
loans. I did my MSc on loan from  Sabah Foundation after making some "threats".
Strangely some actually got full scholarships but they satisfy some criteria,
e.g. government employees doing courses supported by the departments.
	There are a lot of hanky panky at the allocation of these special
scholarships which is evident at the then Jabatan Telekom, which I believe
still exist in TELEKOM Malaysia. The most affected are Sabahans/Sarawakians
since we have no "contacts" with the Malayans.

: 
: P/s all my lecturers (except one)  in U.M. have long left , either
: to Singapore or to private sectors.
I never dream of working as lecturer for Malaysian Universities. I just do
not understand why people are willing to work there, bumis or non-bumis.
	My bumi colleagues like to work there because it is non-political".
--
Othman bin Ahmad, School of EEE,
Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 2263.
Internet Email: eoahmad@ntuix.ntu.ac.sg
Bitnet Email: eoahmad@ntuvax.bitnet
Newsgroups: soc.culture.asean