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Call to send more students to Indonesia

JAKARTA: The rise in the number of Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) 2010 high achievers should push the government to offer more scholarships to students to further their studies abroad, including Indonesia.
The president of the Malaysian Students Association in Indonesia, Khairul Hafidz Alkhair Khairul Amin, said the government must continue sponsoring students to Indonesia because it will produce a generation of credible individuals and future leaders.

The government's move to send fewer students to Indonesia, especially for medical courses in the past two years, should be reviewed, considering its long-term effects on the country, he said in a statement here.

"There are several reasons why the government should consider Indonesia. Firstly, it is much cheaper to send medical students to Indonesia compared to the United Kingdom and Ireland," he said.
Khairul Hafidz said sending a student to the UK or Ireland would cost about RM1 million, while sending them to Indonesia only required between RM300,000 and RM400,000 per person.

He said the government could save one-third of the cost and fund three times more students to take up medicine, adding that the tropical and infectious diseases found in Indonesia were similar to those in Malaysia.

Khairul Hafidz urged Malaysians, especially parents, to stop having a negative perception of the neighbouring country following several demonstrations during strained relations between both countries in the past, as those involved did not represent the whole of Indonesia.

He also asked the government to evaluate students on their co-curricular activities in awarding scholarships.
-- Bernama --

(Dari akhbar News Straits Time 5/6/2011)