In today’s Chinapress Daily, MCA Minister Wee Ka Siong was reported to say that MCA has not stopped its efforts to get the government to recognise the Unified Examination Certificate (UEC).
The question of government recognition of independent Chinese secondary schools UEC is not a new issue and in fact, the Prime Minister met the Chinese educationist groups prior to last year’s general election to discuss the issue.
However, till today the issue remains unresolved despite the fact that the certificate has been recognised by top universities worldwide.
It is insufficient for Wee to merely say that MCA has not stopped in trying to get the certificate recognized, but he must explain what concrete efforts have been done by MCA, especially after MCA’s return to the Cabinet in June this year.
In an interview with news portal Free Malaysia Today that was carried on August 31 last year, Wee had said that the government had conducted studies, engaged Chinese educationists and discussed the related issues in meeting after meeting, but the delay of official recognition of UEC was due to the reluctance of some officials to recognize UEC.
The report also reported as follows:-
Wee said it was “only a matter of time” before the government would recognise the UEC since 500 universities worldwide had given it recognition. Furthermore, he added, students taking UEC examination also sat for the SPM examination.
Asked to provide a specific time frame, he said: “I’m no longer with the government, but I don’t think it will be too long from now.”
Now that MCA is back in the Cabinet, Wee can no longer give the excuse that he or MCA is not with the government for the continued non recognition of UEC.
Wee must also explain how much longer must the independent Chinese secondary schools wait?
When opening the Selangor MCA convention earlier this month, MCA President Liow Tiong Lai said that MCA “is in office and in power” and has always been influencing the national policies.
If MCA is so powerful or effective as claimed, Liow must explain why MCA has failed to obtain government recognition of UEC. Is MCA really “in office and in power” or just “in office but not in power”?
