When I heard that 20 Malaysians had won the prestigious UK Chevening scholarships for 2026/27, I felt proud but also thought about what this really means for us back home.
Chevening is funded by the UK government, with backing from Malaysian partners like YTL Foundation, Jeffrey Cheah Foundation, Yayasan Khazanah and CIMB Foundation. Here's what made me to reflec. The real lesson isn't about the money but about how they choose their scholars.
Chevening doesn't just look at exam results. They want to know: Can you lead? Can you build relationships? Is your course relevant to real-world problems? Can you actually make a difference when you return? Applications are reviewed independently, and candidates are interviewed by the British High Commission themselves.
This is something we should pay attention to.
Think about it.l, are our own universities and scholarship bodies truly finding the best talent, regardless of race, religion, background, or who you know? If we need affirmative action to help those left behind, shouldn't it be based on genuine disadvantage like family income or school resources, rather than assuming ethnicity alone tells the whole story?
Let's be honest, meritocracy doesn't mean pretending everyone starts from the same place. A kid from a rural school with barely any books has worked twice as hard as someone from a top urban school with every advantage. A fair system should recognise that struggle and then ask: What did this person achieve with what they had? What could they do with more?
This matters as transparency, merit-based system would mean public and corporate money goes to people who can truly contribute. It would encourage young Malaysians to compete through hard work, creativity and service not through connections or identity. It would rebuild trust in our institutions and most importantly, it would help us keep our best and brightest here at home.
Chevening's criteria show that leadership isn't just a fancy title, they want evidence. Have you actually created change, solved problems and made things happen? Independent panels should specifically look at what personally they contributed.
How our universities could learn from this.
Selection should involve independent reviews, clear published criteria, structured interviews and proper scoring. Grades should still matter but so should leadership, creativity, community service, research potential, resilience, and whether your field of study actually helps Malaysia's future.
We also need more openness. Scholarship bodies don't have to reveal individual applicants' private details, but they could publish how they make decisions, how different factors are weighted, how many applied, and broad results by state, school type and background.
The goal isn't to remove diversity, it's to achieve diversity without sacrificing excellence.
Look at this year's Chevening cohort: five out of 20 scholars are from Sabah and Sarawak, that's 25%. That proves geographical diversity and excellence can go hand in hand.
So perhaps we should stop arguing over "merit versus affirmative action" and start asking a better question: How do we create fair opportunity, recognise real achievement, and build national excellence all at the same time?
Our universities aren't just degree factories. They're where we find the doctors, engineers, researchers, teachers, entrepreneurs, civil servants and community leaders who will shape our future. If we choose them fairly, competitively, and based on genuine potential, everyone benefits.
The Chevening experience offers us a clear lesson: give every qualified Malaysian a fair shot, acknowledge disadvantage honestly, but ultimately invest in talent, character, achievement and the willingness to serve the nation. That's not just meritocracy. That's how you build a country.
K.T. Maran (maran.kt@gmail.com) is a content creator under the Newswav Creator programme, where you get to express yourself, be a citizen journalist, and at the same time monetize your content & reach millions of users on Newswav. Log in to creator.newswav.com and become a Newswav Creator now!
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