No waiver allowed on BM requirement for civil service jobs - DPM

There shall be no waiving of the Bahasa Melayu pass requirement for any job in the civil service, said Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.

He said the Cabinet took this decision today and in the process revoked the waiver on a pass with a credit in the Bahasa Melayu subject at the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia level for hiring of medical officers on Grade UD41 on a contract basis.

Speaking to reporters after chairing the Cabinet meeting here, Ahmad Zahid said the decision had also been conveyed to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.

"The Cabinet also decided to amend the Medical Act 1971 to make it mandatory for medical officers to serve two years after their housemanship and insert the clause on the Bahasa Melayu pass requirement," he said.

Asked when the amendments will be tabled in the Dewan Rakyat, Ahmad Zahid said this would have to be discussed by the Health Ministry and the Attorney-General's Chambers first.

"Now (following the Cabinet decision today), they (medical officers undergoing housemanship) can take the SPM Bahasa Melayu subject as a single paper in June or November," he said.

The Malaysian Examinations Board had also decided that professionals can take just one paper in the SPM examination which can be implemented from November, he explained.

According to him, there were only 23 doctors undergoing housemanship who were given the waiver (on the SPM BM pass requirement).

Eleven of them are Malays who are children of diplomats and went to medical schools abroad.

"I do not want it appear as though 300 or 3,000 people are affected," he said.

Ahmad Zahid, who is also Home Minister, stressed that the Cabinet was very committed to defend Article 152 of the Federal Constitution (position of Bahasa Melayu as the national language) yas wa shown by the proactive step today.

At the press conference, Ahmad Zahid also recorded his thanks to intellectual organisations and champions of Bahasa Melayu.

"The decision taken by the Cabinet today is final," he added.

-- BERNAMA