Press Conference Statement (2) by Parliamentary Opposition Leader, DAP Secretary-General and MP for Tanjung, Lim Kit Siang, in Malacca on Wednesday, March 31, 1992 at 11 am.
DAP is very deeply concerned at the poor SPM Bahasa Malaya results last year.
The Education Minister, Dr. Sulaiman Daud, said that a total of 9,028 SPM candidates failed to get Grade One last year because they did not have a credit in Bahasa Malaysia.
This is a 100 per cent increase compared to the previous year when 4,461 with an aggregate of 24 and below did not get a credit in Bahasa Malaysia.
The 9,028 students make up 5.3 per cent of the 169, 297 candidates who sat for the SPM examination and include students who socred many distinctions.
It is obvious that the Education Minister, the Deputy Education Minister and Examinations Syndicate are not taking a serious attitude to this shocking result.
It is not good enough for either the Education Minister or his Deputy Minister to say that the drop in the
percentage passes in Bahasa Malaysia was only 0.9 per cent compared to 1990.
What the students, parents and the public are concerned are why there had been a 100 per cent increase in the number of those who failed to get Grade One because they did not have a credit in Bahasa Malaysia, and why 591 students with a minimum of 5As failed to make it to Grade One and were unable to enter- Form Six.
Many of these students are good in Bahasa Malaysia and their teachers had expected them to get distinctions in the subject.
Over a thousand students have appealed for a re-marking of the SPM Bahasa Malaysia paper.
Independent educators from outside the Ministry of Education and the Examinations Syndicate should be invited to review the marking process of the SPM Bahasa Malaysia paper to restore public confidence in the examinations system,,
In this connection, I call on the Education Minister to give an assurance that the results for the re-marking of the SPM Bahasa Malaysia paper would be announced by the end of April so that there is minimal disruption of students who are entitled to proceed to Form Six.