Bali Now A Choice Destination Of M'sians For Medical Studies

DENPASAR (Bali), Sept 10 (Bernama) -- Bali, the world-famous Island in the Sun synonymous with the three leisure S's -- Sun, Sea and Surf -- is now becoming a favourite choice by Malaysian students to further their studies.
Already there are 123 Malaysian students at the Udhayana University here including 50 who arrived just a few days ago to start their first lecture Monday.
Except for one, all are doing medicine. Going by the semester exam results of the 73 senior students, who are all three pointers in the best of four-point cumulative grade point average (CGPA) system, all of them are among the better performers at the university.
The only Malaysian among the latest batch to enrol who is not doing medicine is pursuing a degree in Hindu theology in this Hindu-majority island.
A Malaysian bank officer from Bangi, V. Sreenivasan, who has a daughter, Deepa, studying medicine here told Bernama recently that he chose Bali because the education cost and living expenses here were relatively cheaper compared to Europe, the US, Australia and even India, which has been the traditional destination for many Malaysian medical students.
Secondly, he said, Bali was just slightly over two hours' flight from Kuala Lumpur, which made it easy and cheaper for parents to visit their children or when the children need to return to Malaysia.
More importantly for Sreenivasan and other parents, and probably for sponsors like Mara and the Public Service Department too, the quality of education, the teaching and learning systems at Udhayana University are as good as any other Malaysian government accredited overseas universities.
As for the cost factor, Higher Education Minister Datuk Mustapa Mohamed, while in Jakarta recently, agreed that it was much cheaper to send Malaysian students for medical studies in Indonesia.
No figures were given but it is understood that for one student sent to Europe or the US to study medicine, the government can send seven here at the same cost.
That could be one of the reasons that Mustapa had enquired during his meetings in Jakarta with several universities whether it was possible for all 13 Malaysian-accredited universities in Indonesia to accommodate more Malaysian medical students.
And, through persistent and personal contacts of Malaysian ambassador to Indonesia Datuk Zainal Abidin Mohamed Zain, a number of those universities had allocated more seats to Malaysian medical students from this year onwards.
Zainal Abidin told Bernama recently that the cost factor was one reason while the other was the relevance of their studies here for Malaysia, especially when they learn about the same kind of diseases prevalent in Malaysia and Indonesia, both being close neighbours.
Meanwhile, the Bali branch president of the National Association of Malaysian Students in Indonesia, M. Sujatharan, said another factor preferred by Indian parents was the strict Hinduism practised and observed in Bali.
It is not surprising as 93.2 per cent of Balinese out of some 3.22 million population (2002 statistics) is mostly of the Hindu faith while Muslims make up some 4.9 per cent and other religions, less than 2 per cent.
However, not just Malaysians of Hindu faith or Indian origin are studying medicine in Bali as there are also 18 Malaysian Chinese students and 15 Malays who have no qualms at all over the predominantly Hindu culture here.