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Parliamentary roundtable (4) on the CSMU medical degrees controversy will be held in Parliament on Sunday to discuss the wider implications of the controversy Media Statement by Lim Kit Siang (Parliament, Friday): The controversy over the Malaysian Medical Council (MMC)’s sudden withdrawal of recognition of the Crimea State Medical University (CMSU) medical degrees will be the theme of the fourth Parliamentary Roundtable of the Parliamentary Opposition Leader’s Office in Parliament (Committee Room One) on Sunday, 26th June 2005 at 10 am. The co-ordinator of the parliamentary roundtable (4), DAP MP for Ipoh Barat, M. Kulasegaran, has informed me that he has invited the MIC President and Works Minister, Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu to the roundtable conference, and that there is an open invitation to all MIC Deputy Ministers, Parliamentary Secretaries, Members of Parliament and State Assembly members including the MIC Secretary-General Datuk S. Sothinathan who has been suspended for three months as Deputy Minister following his fracas with the Deputy Health Minister, Datuk Dr. Abdul Latiff Ahmad in Parliament on Tuesday during the debate on my emergency motion on the issue.
Educationists and representatives of NGOs have also been invited to the parliamentary roundtable to discuss the wider implications of the CSMU medical degrees controversy.
The MMC secretary Dr. Wan Mazlan Mohamed Woojdy said yesterday that CSMU could appeal against the derecognition and re-apply once it has satisfied the MMC criteria. (Malaysiakini)
Wan Mazlan seems to rather confused, regarding the appeal against the MMC derecognition and re-application as part of one process, when they are two separate things altogether.
As Wan Mazlan referred to two visits by a government technical panel in 2001 and 2003 to CSMU, is he suggesting that as far back as 2001, the MMU was already contemplating the derecognition of the CSMU medical degrees? If so, this will be most extraordinary, as it was only in 2001 that the MMC accorded recognition to the CSMU medical degrees. Or did the MMC take the decision to start derecognizing the CSMU medical degrees immediately after it announced recognition for the CSMU degrees four years ago? MMC should clear this extraordinary confusion to protect its good name and reputation..
The most important point, however, is why the MMC had never given notice to CSMU that government recognition of its medical degrees was under peril as it was being reviewed and that it could be withdrawn unless it complies with the MMC criteria and requirements.
It does not reflect well on the professionalism, accountability, transparency and sense of justice of the MMC and the Malaysian government to spring such a surprise on the CSMU, the thousands of Malaysian students presently studying in CSMU and intending to pursue studies there, the parents and the country with such a sudden withdrawal of recognition of the CSMU medical degrees, which came like a “bolt out of the blue” for all concerned. It is also a major blow to Malaysia’s international reputation for reliability and predictability, two essential ingredients determining a country’s international competitiveness, as it creates an international wariness about the integrity and justice of the Malaysian government decision-making process.
The Parliamentary Roundtable (4) would make proposals for the resolution of the CSMU medical degrees controversy as well as ensure that there would be no repetition of such MMC mismanagement.
(24/06/2005)
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