This post comes very late not only because Merdeka was almost two weeks ago, but also because the scholarship application date, i.e. the 30th of August, has already ended. In any case, better to spotlight it now just in case the Association of Banks Malaysia (ABM) decides to renew this programme (or a similar version of it) next year.

The ABM Merdeka Scholarships were meant for final year students with CGPA of 3.5 and above at local tertiary institutions, and were valued at RM10,000 each. Not unsurprisingly, applicants were also not supposed to be in receipt of any other scholarships or financial aid since there was a possible 1-year bond attached to the scholarships.

I’ve to admit that I felt that the bond was actually a good thing considering that it gets you a place in one of the sponsoring banks (which by the way include foreign banks like JP Morgan, ABN Amro and Standard Chartered, and most of the local banks).

For more information, refer to the ABM brochure (.pdf file) on the scholarships.