Govt should recognise UEC to fulfil Pakatan manifesto, says MCA Youth

 PETALING JAYA: The Pakatan Harapan government should recognise the Unified Examination Certificate (UEC) to fulfil its election manifesto, says MCA Youth.

In a statement, its chairman Datuk Chong Sin Woon (pic) said before the general election, both Barisan Nasional and Pakatan had listed the recognition of the UEC as one of their election promises (the UEC is a standardised exam taken in Chinese independent schools).

"This shows that UEC recognition was high on the agenda for both the (then) ruling and opposition parties," he said.

However, Chong said that after GE14, newly minted Education Minister Dr Maszlee Malik had came out with reasons claiming that recognising the UEC may undermine the status of the national language and national unity, adding that PAS and Umno Youth had also released similar statements.

Dr Maszlee previously said that a "holistic approach" towards any decision to recognise the UEC is needed to ensure that the national language and national unity were not threatened, adding that he wanted to avoid unnecessary u-turns on the issue. 

"We also need to ensure that in recognising the UEC, we are not selling out on these two aspects (national language and national unity," Dr Maszlee was quoted in The Star as saying. .