He said the scholarship was to enable students who were financially strapped to pursue the one-year foundation course at any local university of their choice.

In a statement he issued, Koon advised these students, regardless of race, to apply for a PTPTN loan later when pursuing their degree course as it came with a very low interest rate.

He also said he was willing to top up the loan amount if there were students who still found it hard to cope financially if the PTPTN loan was deemed insufficient.

All he asked, to be considered for a study loan from him and his wife was that every applicant achieved at the very minimum 5As in their SPM examinations.

“The reason for this condition is that in Malaysia there are more than 50 universities and colleges and all of them are lowering their entry requirements to compete for more students,” he said.

He also commented on the present standard of English in the country and although he did not insist that the applications be in perfect English, he did say: “From our past experience, we are shocked to receive applications in broken English. Many of them cannot even write a sentence without a grammatical error.”

Those interested are requested to send their applications to his wife at [email protected].

Koon, in his 80s and now retired, is the founder of construction giants Mudajaya Sdn Bhd (now IJM Corporation) and Gamuda Sdn Bhd.