Sabah Dong Zong Chairman, Andrew Liew, stressed that his association would try to meet the requirements for official recognition if it’s within their ability.
“The Education Act 1966 applies to the whole country. So, we have to handle this matter with care,” said Liew. “As things stand, the Education Act would have to be amended to provide for official recognition of the UEC in its current format.”
He conceded that it would not be easy to amend the Act as the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) does not have the required two-thirds majority in Parliament to amend an Act which touches on Article 152, the position of Bahasa Melayu, in the Federal Constitution.
Sabah Chief Minister Musa Aman, however, has requested through Minister of Special Tasks Teo Chee Kang that Sabah Dong Zong provide the state government with sufficient information on the UEC, he added. “We are in the process of compiling a report for the Sabah Government.”
The report is expected to touch on Putrajaya’s stand on the UEC including the complaint that the Bahasa paper in UEC was not equivalent to that in the SPM conducted by the Malaysian Examinations Syndicate and that the history syllabus in Chinese schools was “inadequate”.
Also, a growing number of non-Chinese students are taking the UEC in Sabah, Sarawak and elsewhere in Malaysia and the Singapore Government is targeting these students by offering them scholarships while the Sarawak Government has recognised the UEC as an entry qualification into the state civil service.
Liew was commenting on Tawau MP and Deputy Education Minister Mary Yap’s statement that the Higher Education Ministry could not recognise the UEC as an entry qualification into public universities in the country. The government, she added, would be willing to consider recognizing the UEC if it complies with the curriculum in the National Education Policy.
By John Joseph
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