At the Dewan Rakyat (23 June – 27 June 2008)

Compulsory Service for Medical Students
I asked the Health Ministry why are some medical doctors are subjected to a long waiting period for their evaluation report by the Malaysian Medical Council and the local medical board. The wait is laborious and unnecessary, especially when the country needs the services of these doctors urgently. The Ministry should respect the evaluation done by foreign professional bodies in the United States and Western Europe and the returning Malaysian doctors should not be subjected to the need to undertake another evaluation. The move by the Ministry to exempt only those above 45 years of age from compulsory service should also be revisited as many Malaysian specialists who wish to return to serve are in their mid-30s. Instead of the compulsory service, I suggest that for these doctors, their compulsory service be translated into community service such as 2 days a week at government clinics and hospitals. Or, they can be required to supervise or train new medical graduates. I am confident that doctors will have no objections in participating in these people-oriented programmes. In this context, I am disappointed that the Health Ministry is not making compulsory service more flexible. Medical experts are not against serving the government, just that they are not used to the bureaucracy and general can’t function in a complex bureaucratic environment.

Application for Citizenship and PR Status
Most of those applying for Permanent Resident status are spouses of Malaysians and many are experts in their own rights. The government should grant them PR status automatically as these experts can be of service to the nation. The granting of PR statues or citizenship to spouses of Malaysians would definitely encourage more Malaysians to return to serve the country.

Matriculation vs STPMRegarding my question to the Education Ministry on the number of non-Bumiputera students taken in for the Matriculation Programme each year, I feel it not fair for those whose application into the Matriculation Programme has to wait another six months before they can begin their STPM studies. If students applying for the Matriculation Programme has to sit for a special examination before they are selected to enter the programme, why not have a common examination for both students entering Matriculation and STPM courses. This way, they will both start at the same time. It is also important that the same syllabus be used for the examinations so that the two systems of assessment would be compatible. I feel there should be no reason why one examination should be different from the other. This way, it will encourage more students to opt for the STPM examination.