The Cabinet has revoked the Health Ministry’s waiver of the requirement that medical graduates seeking employment in government service must have a pass in SPM Bahasa Melayu.

“We have decided that the requirement for a pass in SPM BM be consistent for recruitment in the government sector,” Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi told a press conference in Putrajaya today.

The Health Ministry had asked the Public Service Department to make an allowance for medical graduates to be hired without fulfilling the requirement of a minimum pass in SPM Bahasa.

The move sparked criticism but was defended by the ministry as a temporary measure for recruits embarking on two years of training  followed two years of service.

Zahid said the Cabinet held that the requirement should be adopted as standard for all positions across civil service.

Meanwhile, the Cabinet has also agreed to amend the Medical Act 1971 so that medical officers are required to serve for two years after completing their housemanship, for whom the BM requirement also applies.

“The Cabinet is committed to maintaining Article 152 of the Constitution.

“Therefore I appreciate the views of those championing the language and I believe this decision will give them an answer,” said Zahid, referring to the group of nationalists who had protested the relaxation of the requirement.”

Earlier, Health Minister S Subramaniam explained in a press conference that the language condition had been eased to admit 23 medical graduates who had grown up and studied overseas because their parents were diplomats.

Zahid said he did wish to have it said that the government’s decision had left many recruits stranded.

“Only 23 doctors who are the children of diplomats and who have an overseas education as a result. Eleven of them are Malay,” he said.

These recruits, said the deputy prime minister, will be allowed to sit for only the BM paper instead of the full range of subjects as would normally be required of SPM candidates. – July 5, 2017.