Hi Weng,

There are some scholarships  that are bonded, mostly are not. Look at it at the bright side, if bonded means you get a job without needing to hunt for jobs like most fresh grad, and going through all those interview process could be painful.

Some bonds are 5 yrs, some are even more, PETRONAS is 10 years!, is totally up to you to take it or not. But i dont think there said you cant be promoted in those years, after all, company see potentials in you and give you scholarship so that you can serve back to company and contribute something. Getting scholarship shows that you are bright student already.

Not bonded is good as in you have wide choices of job out there to let you choose , you dont have to break bond( which means you pay back everything).