KUALA LUMPUR: DAP is far from being a “replica of MCA” as some have claimed, as it has yet to fulfil its own promises on Chinese education despite years in government, says MCA president Datuk Seri Dr Wee Ka Siong.
He said DAP is not qualified to be called MCA 2.0.
“Many netizens say DAP is ‘MCA 2.0’. I completely disagree.
“They accused MCA of failing to recognise the Unified Examination Certificate (UEC), failing to approve more SJKC, and failing to institutionalise funding for Chinese schools,” he said
He recalled that in 2018, Barisan Nasional proposed recognising the UEC with two conditions: a Credit in Bahasa Malaysia and a pass in History at the SPM level. Pakatan Harapan went further, promising UEC recognition with only a Credit in Bahasa Malaysia.
“So, have they recognised the UEC today? And where is that much-talked-about report from the three-person committee studying UEC recognition?” he said in his address at the MCA 30th Central Delegates 3rd General Assembly on Sunday (Dec 7).
Dr Wee also questioned the number of new Chinese primary schools approved during Pakatan Harapan’s time in office.
“Let me ask: from 2018 to 2020, and from 2022 until today, how many approvals for new SJKC have been issued under Pakatan Harapan?” he said.
“During BN’s administration, MCA alone secured 10 approvals for new SJKC and six approvals for SJKC relocation, in 2017 alone. What about Pakatan Harapan from 2018–2020 and again from 2022 to now? How many approvals have they issued?”
Dr Wee said Malaysia currently has 1,308 Chinese primary schools, despite early efforts by colonial authorities and later the federal government to phase them out.
“If MCA had not fought with everything we had to protect them, we would not have even one Chinese school left today,” he added.
On the issue of institutionalised funding, Dr Wee said DAP had merely repackaged allocations that had long been secured by MCA.
“They emphasised ‘institutionalised’ because MCA has always secured tens of millions, even hundreds of millions, for Chinese schools. Has it been institutionalised now? Yes, but they are using wordplay to make it sound new,” he said.
“Even today, the national budget does not clearly state how much allocation is actually given to Chinese schools.”
