No SPM Malay? Worry not!

I spent my primary and secondary education back in Brunei Darussalam. While other local Malaysians were supposed to sit for UPSR, PMR and SPM, i sat for PCE, PMB and GCE OLevel instead. This led to a problem for me of not having SPM Malay. Even though i sat for Bahasa Melayu paper in my GCE O Level and got a Distinction 2 for it and sat for Bahasa Kebangsaan papers during my medical school, they were still not adequate and not acceptable as a substitute for the Malay paper. I was told that without it, problems can arise especially if you plan to stay in the government. Your confirmation of service with the government can be delayed and hence, leading to late promotions. 

I have heard of some who did the June SPM Malay paper as a private candidate and some house officers even  attended tuition classes a few weeks prior to the date. I could not imagine how ridiculous it is for us to be learning all those especially after an exhausting work. However, the good news is that your target mark will only be a PASS. 

So, upon starting work in my current hospital as a house officer, i managed to meet up with the admin as well as the Hospital Director regarding this. They were also quite clueless on the matter but how relieved I was upon finding out that there is an alternative paper that can be done! I am very thankful for the hospital administration team for this! 

So earlier this month, 6 of the house officers from Miri Hospital flew all the way to Kuching to sit for Peperiksaan Bahasa Melayu Khas. The good thing was that this was considered as an official trip and hence, you can claim for the expenses (exclusive of shopping of course!). We only stayed there overnight and the exam was done in JPA building. 

The exam consists of 2 sections; written and oral. If you are already comfortable speaking in Malay than you should not worry too much about it. In my opinion, the difficulty level is as that of Primary 6 syllabus and they are all of MCQ or short answer questions. (Thank God for no essay this time!) I really hope these papers can really compensate for the SPM Malay and hence, putting a closure for this issue. 

I hope some people out there with the same prolems will find this post useful. I know not many really know about this matter and not many resources can be found online. Feel free to ask for more if in doubts!