Why the delay in recognising UEC? Where's the election promise?

GEORGE TOWN - The Pakatan Harapan (PH) government must fulfil its election promise of recognising the Unified Examination Certificate (UEC), Penang Gerakan said today.

State acting chairman Oh Tong Keong said Gerakan has always supported the recognition of UEC as there are many students with the certification.

“I don’t see why the Pakatan Harapan government is delaying recognising the UEC when they had promised to recognise it in their election manifesto,” he said.

He said UEC is an academic qualification that is on the same level as the government’s Sijil Tinggi Persekolahan Malaysia (STPM).

“It should be recognised for entry into public universities and for employment in the public service,” he said.

He said Education Minister Maszlee Malik’s statement that they need to carry out a holistic study before recognising the UEC was clearly an excuse to not fulfil the promise.

He said the academic qualification does not undermine the national language or destroy national unity.

He said these are merely reasons used by some parties to oppose the recognition of UEC.

The UEC is the school-leaving certificate issued by independent Chinese-medium schools in Malaysia.

There are about 60 independent Chinese-medium schools in Malaysia, with over 20 of them in East Malaysia.

The UEC is recognised in Singapore but it has limited recognition in Sarawak, Selangor and Penang.

In Penang, UEC graduates can apply to work for government-linked firms.

PH, in its GE14 manifesto, promised to recognise the UEC for entry into public universities.