Speech (Part 4 and Final Section) by Parliamentary Opposition Leader, DAP Secretary-General and MP for Tanjung, Lim Kit Siang, in the Dewan Rakyat on Wednesday, 28th April 1993 in the Debate on the Royal Address
DAP calls on Government to announce in Parliament next week its decision to recognize Taiwan university degrees and qualifications
The question of the recognition of Taiwan university degrees and qualifications is one which I had raised in Parliament since the 1970s.
Recently, the Chairman of the Malaysian Federation of Chinese Assembly Halls, Tan Sri Lim Geok Chan, announced that the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Dr. Mahathir Mohamed, had told a delegation from the Federation that the government was prepared to consider recognition of Taiwan university degrees and qualifications.
Four weeks have passed since Tan Sri Lim Geok Chan’s announcement and I want to know whether the Cabinet had since met to formally consider and decide on the formal government recognition of Taiwan university degrees and qualifications?
The MCA and Gerakan Ministers seem to be completely in the dark about the whole issue, raising the question as to whether the Government is in fact serious in wanting to resolve the long-standing issue of recognition to Taiwan university degrees and qualifications.
It is most ironic and ridiculous that the Malaysian Government has hitherto refused to accord recognition to the Taiwan university degrees and qualifications when the educational attainments of Taiwan was one of the important reasons for becoming one of the Asian ‘tigers’.
There are about 30,000 Malaysians who have graduated from Taiwan universities and colleges, and although they have been denied proper recognition and appreciation, they had all made great contributions to national development.
The time has come for this unfair treatment of these 30,000 Malaysians to be rectified, and for due recognition and appreciation to be accorded to their qualifications and contributions to the nation. I call on the Cabinet to forthwith decide formally on the recognition of Taiwan university degrees and qualifications, and to announce such a decision in Parliament next week during the Ministerial replies to the present debate.