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Introduce 1Malaysia pledge on occasion of 53rd National Day for all participants, schools, universities, 1.2 million civil servants, Ministers, MPs and all Malaysians to be “Malaysian first and race, region, geographical region or socio-economic group second”

Minister for Information Communication and Culture Datuk Seri Dr. Rais Yatim announced yesterday that the 53rd National Day theme from August 1 to September 16 is “1Malaysia Transforming the Nation”.

At present the 1Malaysia logo has flooded the country but it does not add one iota to the nation-building process.

Adding one sentence “1Malaysia Transforming the Nation” to the ubiquitous 1Malaysia logo also does not make any meaningful contribution to the nation-building process.

If the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak is serious about the 1Malaysia policy – with the officially-stated objective to create a Malaysia where every Malaysian regards himself or herself as Malaysian first and race, religion, geographical region or socio-economic group second, the government must go beyond slogan, logo and other publicity stunts.
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Some thoughts/Q regarding JPA scholarship policy

by Mary Mag
Letters

Just wanted to share some of my thoughts/questions regarding the JPA scholarships policy.

I believe it is important to recognize and reward merit and tap young potential , so it is important to continue with ‘merit scholarships’.

But the government must clearly differentiate between ‘merit scholarships’ (that must be based solely on merit criteria) and others based on ethnic or socio-economic considerations.

At the moment, there is no clear demarcation and there is still a lack of transparency regarding many aspects. As taxpayers, we have the right to know all the information.
Regarding JPA overseas scholarships for SPM high achievers, the practice now is to send them to UiTM or slelected private colleges for ‘preparatory/foundation’ courses. A few questions arise:
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