Anak Sarawak and Anak Negeri Scholarships Explained

Two separate state foundations, two separate applications

Anak Sarawak and Anak Sabah scholarships are not one national scheme. Yayasan Sarawak (the Sarawak Foundation) and Yayasan Sabah Group run independent programmes with their own eligibility rules, deadlines and priority fields, so a Sarawakian student cannot apply to Yayasan Sabah and vice versa. Treat each as a completely separate application process with its own portal, its own document checklist and its own results timeline.

Yayasan Sarawak: Tun Taib and Tunku Abdul Rahman scholarships

To qualify for a Yayasan Sarawak scholarship, at least one parent, mother or father or both, must be Sarawakian, and you must be pursuing or about to start full-time study in a recognized course at a higher education institution in Malaysia or abroad (Yayasan Sarawak ).

For the 2025/26 intake, Yayasan Sarawak offered the Tun Taib Scholarship and the Tunku Abdul Rahman Scholarship, prioritizing STEM fields: engineering (aerospace engineering given priority), information technology (semiconductor technology given priority), medicine and health, life sciences, food technology, psychology and counselling, construction and land development, accounting, finance and law. Applicants needed a CGPA of 3.00 or higher from STPM, diploma, matriculation or foundation study, and the application window closed on 8 August 2025 (Yayasan Sarawak 2025/26 offer ). Priority fields and deadlines shift with each intake, so check the current year's offer document rather than assuming last year's list still applies, and note that the two named scholarships are not the only funding Yayasan Sarawak administers across different education levels.

Yayasan Sarawak scholarships are also listed as an approved domestic sponsor in the Ministry of Higher Education's own funding directory, useful confirmation if your university asks for proof the award is recognized (MOHE ).

Yayasan Sabah: merit and household income combined

Yayasan Sabah Group's scholarships target students who are Malaysian citizens from Sabah, or who have at least one parent from Sabah, or at least one parent holding Permanent Resident status in Sabah, with priority given to applicants born and residing in the state. Awards weigh both academic achievement and household income rather than academic merit alone, and cover study from certificate level through diploma, bachelor's degree, master's and PhD (Yayasan Sabah Group ). Priority fields include engineering, architecture, information technology, veterinary science, hospitality and early childhood education. Because household income enters the assessment directly, prepare recent parental income documents alongside academic transcripts when you apply, rather than assuming grades alone decide the outcome.

Proving your eligibility

Both foundations ask for documentary proof of state origin, typically a birth certificate showing a Sarawak or Sabah birthplace, or a parent's identity card showing Sarawak or Sabah as the state of origin. Gather these documents before the application window opens rather than scrambling once it closes in a matter of weeks. If your parent's identity card was issued in a Peninsular state despite family roots in Sarawak or Sabah, contact the foundation directly to ask what alternative proof they accept, since the standard document checklist does not always fit every family situation.

Stacking with federal aid

Nothing in either foundation's published eligibility rules bars you from also applying for PTPTN or a JPA scholarship in the same intake. In practice, most students treat Yayasan Sarawak or Yayasan Sabah funding as a first layer and PTPTN as a loan to cover any remaining gap, since state foundation scholarships rarely cover tuition, living costs and travel together in full. Confirm with your specific offer letter whether the award is a full scholarship, a partial bursary or an interest-free loan, since the three come with different repayment obligations, and check whether accepting one award requires you to withdraw an application for another before results are announced.

Quick comparison

Timing your application

Both foundations open and close their application windows on a fixed annual calendar tied to their financial year and intake planning, not on a rolling basis, so a late application generally has to wait for the next cycle rather than being considered after the fact. Set a reminder several weeks before the typical opening period each year, since exact dates shift and a scholarship you missed by a few days offers no fallback until the following intake.

If you receive an offer from one foundation while still waiting on a decision from PTPTN, JPA or a university-specific award, read the offer letter's acceptance deadline carefully before committing, since some scholarship offers require you to decline other pending applications as a condition of acceptance.