Madani's Affirmative Action

Congrats Lope for nailing an impressive SPM result:

Straight As

7A+ 2As

As for just BM and Add Math. 

As mama always say - your only limit is your own self doubt.

Of course, it's short of the best possible result there is by just 2 subjects. Just 2 notches short. I dare say that this is already maybe around top 3% percentile already (confirmed estimates by chatgpt)

And already among the top 6 students in school.

But just about 2 months after the result was announced, the then fancy perspective, hope and expectation turned to just a false fancy dreams.

BNM was the first one to give its way out. Then came Yayasan Khazanah (got through to 2nd stage assessment only, along with very few others). Then another let down from Petronas' PESP, but waitlisted for local scholarship. No news from YTN, PNB. 

All these without even having a chance to prove yourself in an interview

When all hopes seem to have flushed, then came a glimmer of hope for JPA and YTP. 

Dawn of new hope started to seep in. We were informed of the interview sessions during our roadtrip to Krabi for Papa's 45th birthday. Such auspicious day. We prepped, we drilled. I had earlier on signed Qaid up for a limited slot for Interview Coaching session with my fellow Srikandi sister. We knew we had enough to bring to the table. The 2 interviews went on successfully, we believed. 

Then came 2 months after. Another sad reality came in. 

Early July marked these gloomy days.

Not successful for JPA and YTP with a further waitlist for Petronas. 

One thing for sure was:

It wasn't due to your result

It wasn't also due to how you performed for your interviews. 

It wasn't your co-curricular activities (though having certain key leadership role may bring something else to the table).

It was your Socio Economic Status (SES).

And it coincided when the Madani initiative that has taken its full on action. And the new outlook for Petronas (Petronas had in the same year announced their right sizing initiatives. Which indirectly means more cost cutting and unnecessary spending initiatives).

All key scholarship has been cut into half, unlike the years before. 

The only bright side is that other top students have faced their similar fates. 

The 2 that got the most prestigious scholarships were not the better students.

Fahhim secured YTN to the UK with 7A+ 2A

Arif Hakimi secured PESP to the UK with 5A+ 4A

Wafiy secured PNB to the UK with 4A+ 5A

Their results were strong ones nonetheless

Ivan secured PESP only through second intake to Australia with 8A+ 1A. This is strong. But only during the 2nd round.

One thing for sure. Everyone would have quite their decent share of interview skills. Noted there are some who had done better or worse than others. But a lot didn't even given the chance to prove themselves, interview wise. 

What really at play was the Madani's version of Affirmative Action. The war against the Super Rich, the Mahakaya. The top 15%. These terms were not even in the dictionary before the Madani government. But it has served as a basis for a lot of things. There had even been rumours to implement a tiered school fees for boarding school should you come from this Mahakaya background. 

Best students, strongest result holder from their respective schools, didn't get any offer. Especially those applying for the UK. News from the grapevine said that a lot of MRSM students was offered for YTP. So one can't help but to make a forced assumptions of the above. Scholarships and convertible loans by YTP being awarded based on Madani's Affirmative Action. 

To make matters worst. 2nd offers for YTP have mostly been to those applying for New Zealand. The count is still ongoing, but so far, the results have been as such. 

While the reason for that can be justified, but what came as a result was those getting a much worse result being offered. So apart from Affirmative driven decision for the 1st intakes, students with a much modest result being incentivized with getting their offers instead. 

The basis of education's assistance should be to assist those with academic excellence. But this seems to be the opposite now. Those who play their cards right, were the one who are being rewarded instead. 

Of course, this is a very sensitive matter. Just having a view as such, already puts you in a peculiar position. View that is not supposed to be spoken out loud.

But this is what it now. And it's a very sad position to be in. Especially when it happens to your time. This is the final batch whom have sit for UPSR. They had to go through covid in their critical years. And they have to suffer again this time. May the kids stay strong and may their spirit remains high. May you all be protected by Allah always and rewarded abundantly in return for your patience. 

Hang on kiddos