ルック･イースト政策と「民族の政治」

教育機会の分配をめぐる政治

抄録

The main pillar of Malaysian Look East Policy (LEP) has been sending its students to Japanese Universities and National Colleges of Technology. The responsibility for sending students abroad has fallen mainly under the jurisdiction of JPA (Jabatan Perkhidmatan Awam, or Public Service Department), an agency that distributes collegiate scholarships to Malaysian students studying both locally and overseas. Though most of the scholarship recipients are bumiputra, the policy has not faced much criticism concerning the unequal opportunity among ethnic groups. Despite the lack of direct criticism toward LEP, many Malaysian people have expressed concerns about the distribution of scholarships provided by the JPA. When the scholarship results became available in May each year, the public commented on how many non-bumiputra students with excellent academic scores were excluded from the opportunity. They also criticized the JPA for unfair distribution and lack of transparency in the process of selection. It has been said that 90% of overseas scholarship went to bumiputra students before 2008. Responding to the criticism, the Malaysian government has changed the policy on the distribution of overseas scholarships, moving toward a merit-based system since 2008. In 2012, the government introduced a new policy. According to the revised 2012 policy, the students that receive the top 50 scores on the SPM (Sijil Perlajaran Malaysia or Malaysian Certificate of Education) receive JPA scholarships for both pre-university and university, and the 9A+ SPM students receive awards from the Ministry of Education further education at pre-university. Additionally, SPM students studying engineering in France, Germany, Korea, and Japan gain special scholarships from JPA (LEP program is included here). The 2012 policy revision also provides scholarships for SPTM (Sijil Persekolahan Tinggi Malaysia or Malaysian Higher School Certificate) students who are admitted to government-selected top-ranking universities. The process for selecting the engineering students and the SPTM students is guided by four criteria: scholastic ability (20%); ethnicity (60%); status as Sabah or Sarawak bumiputra (10%); and social disadvantage (10%). Despite the changes to the policy, the 2012 the scholarship program under LEP still appeared to favor bumiputra students. The Centre for Foundation Studies in Science, University of Malaya, a main preliminary institution for university programs accepted only bumiputra students. The award system for the LEP may be changed according to the general trend the overseas scholarship policy as a whole. It is interesting to note that the LEP is often mentioned when the public criticizes the authorities for its poor performance. In most cases, these critics are non-bumiputra and accuse the authorities of failing to sense of responsibility, discipline, management skills, and work ethic from the East. In this context, the Look East Policy has been deemed “unsuccessful.”