Gerakan Youth has urged the Public Service Commission (PSC) to review its Malay language criteria for civil service job applicants to open its doors for more Chinese youths.

In a statement today, Gerakan Youth secretary-general Dominic Lau said this in view of the Malaysian Qualifications Agency (MQA) recent decision to recognise qualifications of 146 higher learning institutions in China.

Thus, Lau said it was time for PSC to review its criteria which requires applicants to possess a minimum credit (C6) for Bahasa Malaysia for the applicant’s Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) examination.

“The evaluation system for BM in SPM emphasizes the comprehension skill of the students on BM. However, a credit in BM cannot evaluate comprehensively the language capability of a student.

“More Chinese youths should be encouraged to enter public service in the government sector. It is necessary to amend the regulation that requires a credit for BM in SPM, because all the while many Chinese youths are being rejected from entering public service sector simply for that reason,” he said.

Lau, an academic attached to UCSI, said many countries are now evaluating civil service candidates based on their highest educational qualification and Malaysia should not do the opposite.

“If the government thinks that a good mastery in BM is the prerequisite condition to become a civil servant, also due to most of all the official documents are in BM, the government can make evaluation to determine the level of BM of each person according to the needs of each sectors.

“For example, in engineering, it is necessary for undergraduates to master the BM terminologies and technical requirements in BM for that particular sector,” he said.

Meanwhile, Lau also urged the federal government to recognise the United Education Certificate, an examination used by all Chinese private schools that is equivalent to the British A-Levels.