MIC president S Samy Vellu has asked all parties disputing the Education Ministry’s latest SPM ruling to give time to the prime minister to resolve it.

"Let us be rational and leave the matter in the hands of Najib Abdul Razak as he has been fair to us (the Indian community) all this while," the former works minister told reporters.

He was commenting on the front page reports in all local Tamil dailies today over Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin's announcement that despite the government's decision to allow SPM students to take 12 instead of 10 subjects, only the results of the 10 core subjects will be considered for government scholarships and others.

NONE Last Friday, Muhyiddin, who is also the education minister, in announcing the cabinet's decision said that while the 10 core subjects would remain, flexibility was given to the SPM students to opt for Mandarin or Tamil and Chinese Literature or Tamil Literature.

Muhyiddin also said the students could sit for additional subjects other than the 10 core subjects but the results would not be taken into account in the award of scholarships and other matters.

This caused several Indian non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to question the rationale behind the move with some NGOs describing it as "rubbish".

Negotiations, not demonstrations

Samy Vellu said while he too did not agree with the move, the Indian community should allow Najib to resolve it.

"Let us deal with the issue one at a time. We have already passed the first hurdle that is to allow students to sit for 12 subjects instead of 10, and we are very grateful to the government.

"Now, the issue is that the two additional subjects (Tamil Language and Tamil Literature) will not be taken into consideration for government scholarships and others. Let us (the MIC) negotiate with the government just as we did on the 12 subject issue," he said.

Samy Vellu said the Indians have to be fair to the prime minister and allow him to discuss the matter with MIC’s sole representative in the Cabinet, Dr S.Subramaniam, who is also the Human Resources Minister.

"I have already instructed him (Subramanim) to work on it. MIC believes in negotiations and not street demonstrations," he said.