BY: NORHAYATI UMOR
SHAH ALAM, MAY 3: The Public Service Department’s (JPA) threat to cut students’ scholarships is an intimidation and a move that weakens the spirit and the students’ engagement.
KEADILAN Deputy President, Nurul Izzah Anwar said, the fund is acquired from the country’s revenue, which also include tax paid by the citizens to the government.
She said, the scholarship is a student’s right and the decision denies this right from the smart students in this country who are surely critical, analytical and aware of their surroundings.
“Clearly, JPA’s decision is repeating the tyranny of the University and University College Act (AUKU) with the aim to intimidate students to weaken their spirits and engagement.
“Or do we want the next generation of leaders to be merely followers and dumb, just follow orders without thinking about the effect to society and country?” she said in a statement yesterday.
She added that critical and analytical thinking must be asserted during early schooling to create a generation of better future leaders.
Nurul Izzah said that KEADILAN General Leader, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim had once reminded us to make an effort to be more intellectual rather than focusing only on knowledge gained in lecture halls.
“This must be based on the principles of academic freedom, intellectual enlightenment and empowerment.
“The government should not pretend to be listening to the opinions of the youths in forming the TN50 if the reality is that their voices are blocked,” she said.
She is of the opinion that the Federal Government now cannot be criticised and is ultimately a despotic administration as practiced in the autocratic North Korea.
JPA’s threat to cut scholarship intimidate students
