Two major Chinese education movements have informed Putrajaya that they have no objections to including Bahasa Malaysia qualifications as a criterion for government recognition of the Unified Examination Certificate (UEC).
United Chinese School Committees' Association (Dong Zong) and United Chinese School Teachers' Association (Jiao Zong) had expressed this position to Deputy Education Minister Teo Nie Ching today.
Following the meeting at the Education Ministry, Dong Zong president Tan Tai Kim told reporters that this was among several issues raised with the deputy minister.
"Pakatan Harapan promised to recognise the UEC and allow Chinese independent secondary school leavers to enrol into local universities.
"Dong Zong and Jiao Zong are agreeable to the criterion of a credit in the Bahasa Malaysia paper in SPM as a requirement for the government to recognise UEC," he said.
To maintain the trust of the people, he stressed that Harapan is obliged to fulfil their manifesto promise.
He revealed that the association representatives had suggested meeting regularly with the ministry to discuss various issues faced by Chinese schools. They had also requested to meet Education Minister Maszlee Malik.
Jiao Zong president Wang Chao Qun added that the Harapan government should employ a new way of thinking and develop a more diverse education policy.
Several Muslim groups, such as Majlis Pembangunan Pendidikan Islam Malaysia (Mappim) and Gerakan Pembela Ummah (Ummah), are now calling for a rally to oppose the recognition of UEC, claiming that the unity of the nation will be destroyed otherwise.
Referring to this, Dong Zong deputy president Tan Yew Seng replied that the associations welcome any opportunity to have a rational discussion with anyone who has doubts about UEC’s official recognition.
“If there are any particular groups who don’t understand (the issue), we welcome the opportunity to engage with them to look at it rationally and discuss some of the details. ”
He denied claims that the UEC syllabus did not reflect a Malaysian context.
“Such accusation is misleading and it is not true. The history curriculum is very much localised, the majority of it is talking about our local culture.”
Meanwhile, he also stressed that BM is a compulsory subject in all Chinese independent secondary schools, and it is also “part of our national identity”.
The UEC is a standardised test which has been administered by the Malaysian Independent Chinese Secondary Schools Working Committee (MICSS) since 1975, which in turn is represented by members of Dong Zong and Jiao Zong. - Mkini
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