PKR Youth chief Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad said as the common language used by all in Malaysia is still BM, no one should question the need to recognise the importance of BM as the national language.
“As PH Youth, we are open to meeting with these young doctors to see how this issue can be resolved,” he said at PKR headquarters here today.
The party also said the government should offer alternative assessments to these medical graduates to avoid complications in the future.
Citing the United Kingdom as an example, Nik Nazmi said there should be at least a minor public policy change to cater for the usage of BM as the national language like the UK has with its IELTS.
IELTS (International English Language Test System) is a test that acts as a prerequisite for any foreign student who wants to study in the UK.
“It is important that we should find ways to accommodate them and recognise their abilities to serve the country,” he said.
Recently, some 300 medical graduates from private institutions, who are waiting for housemanship placements, were told that they had to “go back to school”.
The graduates were told to obtain the SPM-level Bahasa Melayu certificate if they wanted permanent government posts.
According to an email from the PSD, from Oct 1 last year, the appointment of UD41-grade housemen had been carried out on a contract basis.
On July 2, the health ministry announced the relaxation of the national language “pass” requirement for contract medical workers, that is medical housemen.
The department said this was to allow medical graduates who did not have an SPM-level BM pass to serve and get full registration certificates as medical officers.
The PSD said if the candidates wanted to apply for permanent posts, then SPM-level BM was required.
On the issue of recognition for the Unified Examination Certificate (UEC), PPBM Youth chief Syed Saddiq Abdul Rahman said he fully supported the recognition as long as it did not contradict the use of Bahasa Malaysia as the national language.
“PH Youth has reached a consensus that the UEC should be recognised.
“We will raise this issue up to the presidential council level and they will come up with a detailed policy plan on how it will be implemented,” Syed Saddiq said.
UEC is a standardised test for Chinese independent high school students in Malaysia, in place since 1975. It is recognised globally, even by Oxford University, but not in Malaysia.
In recent times, the UEC has become a contentious issue, especially during elections with political parties using it as a tool for political mileage.
Supporters of UEC say Malaysia stands to lose out by not recognising the certificate, while critics say it is not in line with the National Education Policy (NEP).
Syed Saddiq said the way forward is to come up with a compromise, having a public policy solution that is still in line with the NEP but at the same time not to deny Malaysian youths with the UEC the chance to further their studies locally.
“The fact that thousands of intellectual Malaysians are leaving the country because they do not get enough opportunities due to the failure to recognise UEC is a net loss for Malaysia,” Syed Saddiq said.