Requiring elected representatives to have at least an SPM credit in Bahasa Malaysia is stupid, Sarawak United Peoples’ Party (SUPP) president Dr Sim Kui Hian says.

However, Sim acknowledged that MPs and assemblypersons must be able to speak and write well.

"Stupid! We are not academic institutions. We need people who can speak well and write well, of course," he told Malaysiakini yesterday.

Sim was commenting on reports that the EC is mulling a proposal by controversial lecturer Ridhuan Tee Abdullah ( left ) that all state and parliamentary election candidates must have a minimum credit in Bahasa Malaysia at the SPM level.

Asked if the EC should focus on other things such as health of candidates, Sim, who is a practising cardiologist, said it was undemocratic.

"Likewise, as much as we would like not to waste the money of taxpayers, no democratic country in the world has health status as criteria," he said.

The health of election candidates had become a concern for many in the lead-up to the 13th general election.

At least 12 of the 16 by-elections prior to GE13 were triggered by lawmakers dying from heart attacks or cancer.

Kian Ming: Focus on electoral reform proposals instead

Serdang MP Ong Kian Ming believes the EC should instead focus on the proposals made by the Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) on electoral reforms three years ago.

"Rather than putting effort into studying Ridhuan Tee’s proposal, the EC should instead deliver on its promises made more than three years ago, which is to publish its findings and studies on the specific recommendations made by the PSC on electoral reform

"More than three years after the response issued by the EC chairperson, we have not seen any of these studies being published or even publicly discussed by the EC," Ong said in a statement today.

The PSC had, among others, recommended that the EC prepares better guidelines for caretaker governments and reconsiders the first-past-the-post electoral system in favour of a proportionate representation system.