WHEN it comes to stirring up controversies, UMNO Youth head Dr Muhammad Akmal Saleh is in a class of his own.

His latest polarising Facebook posting concerns the admission of non-Bumiputera students in matriculation colleges.

While he agreed with Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s announcement that non-Bumiputera students who score a minimum of 10As in their Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) should gain automatic admission there, it comes with two caveats.

First, the students must be fluent in Malay. Secondly, he wants Bumiputera intake into these colleges to be increased proportionate to the rise in that of the non-Bumiputera.

“If the (non-Bumi) quota is increased by 1,000 places, the same number should be increased for the Bumiputera,” the Merlimau state assemblyman penned on social media.

First of all, it boggles the mind how someone who scored a minimum of 10As in SPM cannot be fluent in the national language. Based on historical records, those who scored with flying colours in SPM tend to do well in all subjects - including Bahasa Malaysia.

If the Melaka executive councillor for rural development, agriculture and food security thinks that SPM students who scored an “A” in the national language are still not fluent in Bahasa Malaysia, he should take up the matter with the Education Ministry.

There must be something wrong with the education system for someone to do well in a particular subject for SPM yet in reality, do not have a strong grasp of the topic.

If so, does Dr Akmal - who has rightfully earned the monicker of UMNO’s “Boycott King” - think this applies only to Bahasa Malaysia or other subjects like Physics, Chemistry and History, too? Isn’t Dr Akmal a product of the national education system himself prior to pursuing his tertiary studies in the field of medicine in Russia?

It appears that Dr Akmal has been getting the diagnosis wrong on this issue. He should channel his unhappiness over the alleged poor command of the national language by top-scoring non-Bumiputera SPM students to the Education Ministry.

He should demand the ministry to plug any alleged loopholes in the examination system which supposedly allow those who can’t string a proper sentence in Malay to get an “A” in SPM.

While at it, he might as well ask for the education system to be revamped so that we do not produce any more demagogues who only know how to stir sentiments for political ends at the expense of national unity. - July 4, 2024

https://focusmalaysia.my/can-a-straight-as-spm-student-be-not-fluent-in-bm-boycott-king-dr-akmal-thinks-so/