Scholarships for S’wak, Sabah hijacked?

 

Joseph Tawie

 | September 12, 2013

Sarawak DAP is in disbelief that there are less than 50% Sarawakians and Sabahans who qualified for federal scholarships.

KUCHING: More than 50% of federal scholarships allocated to Sarawak and Sabah students to pursue their education in local universities had allegedly no takers and as such went to students in Peninsular Malaysia.
More surprising however is the fact that this “loss” to the two states has been going on since 2008 and no one was wiser.
At least not until today when Minister in the Prime Minister Department Joseph Entulu’s shocking revelation was front-paged in the local media.
According to Entulu, of the 1,000 scholarships allocated to Sarawak and Sabah in local universities in 2008, only 499 were successful in their applications.
In 2009 there were only 402 from Sarawak and Sabah and this meant “500-plus places were not filled up” again. The situation was the same for 2010, 2011 and 2012.
Entulu went on to add that the situation was equally depressing for scholarships for overseas studies.
He said in 2008 only 110 students were awarded the scholarships out of 200 slots reserved for the two states.
“In 2009 it was okay; in 2010, it was not bad. But in 2011 the number of recipients dropped and the most glaring part was that in the case of Sarawak, we could not fill our quota in 2008 and 2011 for overseas scholarships,” Entulu said.
The disclosure has puzzled Sarawak DAP chief Chong Chieng Jen.
Chong claimed he had received complaints from Iban and Bidayuh students who scored 5As, 6As, 7As and even 8As but who had their applications for scholarships rejected.
“How is it not even 50% of our quota had been fulfilled? I am sure our students are eligible for all these scholarships,” he said.

Inherent discrimination?
Chong found it “more shocking” that the “loss” had been going on for the past few years and the government had not thought fit to disclose the details.
“We want to know if this is an inherent discrimination against Sarawak and Sabah in the educational system.
“I am sure some of the scholarships in our quota are given for the benefit of students from Peninsular Malaysia.
“How can the government allow these shortfalls to go on? We want to know the full details, including the racial breakdown as to who got the scholarships.
“Either the government is negligent in this matter or it is hiding something,” Chong said.
Entulu, who revealed the figures when launching Bumiputera Technical Committee for Sabah and Sarawak (BTCSS) by Barisan Nasional (BN) here yesterday, had also noted that Sarawakians had not been able to fill the annual quota for special programmes meant for top performers to take up engineering courses in France, Germany, South Korea and Japan.
He said in 2012 although 29 of the 30 places given to Sarawak were filled up, Entulu was disturbed that the slots were mostly taken up by students from urban schools.
He said there was a need for ‘special consideration” to be given when selecting candidates.
“The rural schools fared very badly. I do not think they should be given the same standard of criteria as that of urban students,” he said.

Lost opportunities
Meanwhile Entulu’s disclosure has also surprised and saddened PRS president James Masing.
Refusing to lay blame on any one party, Masing said the missed opportunities for scholarships could be because students and parents were both ignorant of its availability.
“It is a pity that we are losing out on these opportunities. There is money. Other people used it as we did not,” he said.

Boarding school warden accused of raping student

Posted on September 11, 2013, Wednesday

ARRESTED: The warden is led to the Sekama police station lockup.

KUCHING: A boarding school warden was arrested yesterday after he allegedly raped a 16-year-old charge at a secondary school in Siburan.
The 54-year-old suspect was detained at the school by police at 1.30pm after a report was lodged by the victim, who is a boarder at the school, following the incident which is said to have occurred around noon on Monday.
Confirming the arrest, Padawan district police chief Supt Pauzi Bujang said the victim — from a village in Padawan — alleged that she was raped by the warden inside a room at the school.
The victim has been sent for a medical checkup at the Sarawak General Hospital, while the suspect has been detained in the lockup pending further investigation.
The case has been classified under Section 376 of the Penal Code for rape.


Read more: http://www.theborneopost.com/2013/09/11/boarding-school-warden-accused-of-raping-student/#ixzz2eXqkoz5s

Mawan-G5 rift deepens

Joseph Tawie

 | September 9, 2013

The sacking of 40 pro-SPDP longhouse chiefs is expected to further divide the Marudi constituency

KUCHING: Forty longhouse chiefs from the Marudi constituency have been removed from their posts allegedly upon the recommendation of state Assistant Minister Sylvester Entri who ironically is Marudi assemblyman.

Majority of those sacked were members of Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party (SPDP), Entri’s former party.

A letter of termination allegedly signed by the District Officer of Marudi has been served on the 40 tuai rumah. The letter also requested the respective longhouses to elect their own chiefs.

“No reason was given for their sacking, except to say that the respective longhouses must choose their new tuai rumah,” said Patrick Sibat, who comes from the area.

Three of Sibat’s relatives namely Gansa Anak Pagun of Sebatang Bok, Musen Anak Radin of Sebatang Bok and Sureng Anak Jelian of Sungai Bain, Tinjar have received their letters of termination.

Their sacking has not only heightened the political row between SPDP, which is headed by William Mawan Ikom, and Entri, but is now also certain to disrupt the ‘peace’ and further divide the longhouse folk in the constituency.

Entri is one of the members of SPDP 5 (also known as G5) who were sacked in 2011 for insubordination by Mawan.

The others were assemblymen Peter Nansian (Tasik Biru), Paulus Palu Gumbang (Batu Danau), Rosey Yunus (Bekenu) and the former MP for Mas Gading Dr Tiki Lafe

The five have now formed a ‘Sarawak BN Club’ in order to maintain their position in the state Barisan government.

Rift deepens

Meanwhile a number of those who received their letters of termination have brought their cases to Mawan’s attention.Sources close to the party claimed that Entri is showing his ‘power’ over those who supported Mawan especially in connection with his (Mawan’s) visit to Ulu Teru in Marudi in October 2012 which was strongly objected by at least 30 tuai rumah.The opposition to Mawan’s visit was said to have been organised by Entri’s supporters and members of G5.

Three of the longhouse chiefs who ‘repented’ lodged a police report saying that they were forced to sign a press statement condemning the visit of Mawan, who is the state Social Development Minister.

They told a press conference that they regretted what they did.

Mawan filed a complaint with the Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin who then issued a stern warning against longhouse chiefs who were out to sabotage the visit by BN leaders to Ulu Teru.

Mawan finally visited Ulu Teru on Oct 23, 2011. About 3,000 people attended the function. Among them were some 50 longhouse chiefs.

Even though Entri was invited to attend the function, he was glaringly absent.

But the visit, however, left a bitter dispute between tuai rumah who supported Entri and those who supported Mawan.

Party sources claimed that the termination of longhouse chiefs supporting Mawan was a ‘selective punishment’.

SPDP’s deputy secretary-general Paul Igai when contacted said: “We are investigating it as we view the sacking very seriously. If there is any truth, we will do what is necessary,” he said.