Where is the political will to recognise the UEC?

By Stephen Ng 

Comment: Much has been said about the Unified Examination Certificate or the UEC. One of the promises in the Pakatan Harapan and even Barisan Nasional manifesto was to recognise the certificate.

Here, we have a member of parliament, Edmund Santhara (Segamat) who raised the issue again in the parliament recently.

Here is an Indian MP from PKR who spoke on behalf of the Chinese community, an excellent show of the Malaysia Baru spirit.

However, it is just too disappointing to note that, while the issue was brought up, the other Chinese MPs in the august house kept very silent about the issue. Not even a single person show the support.

Have our MPs from the various component parties within Pakatan Harapan forgotten their commitment to recognise the UEC? 

The deputy of education, Teo Nie Ching herself had earlier announced that the UEC would be recognised by November this year. This announcement, however, was reversed by Maszlee Malik, who said that Pakatan Harapan has a time frame of up to five years to recognise the UEC.

The latest answer given by Maszlee is that the committee looking into the UEC recognition would submit its report "next year." Considering that 2019 is just two months away, it brings joy to those who are hoping for the UEC to be recognised soon; at the same time, there are 12 months in 2019. 

So, which month in 2019 will the report be tabled for cabinet discussion? Why the delay in recognising the UEC? Had Pakatan Harapan not given sufficient thoughts to the UEC recognition before putting it in the manifesto? 

Or, like our Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad had said, "We wrote the manifesto thinking we would remain in opposition." He is right in pointing out that these promises in the manifesto will be the basis of how the new Pakatan Harapan government would be scrutinised by the Opposition.  

I wish to reiterate here: it is not only the Opposition that is scrutinising the PH Government. The 30% of the Malays who voted for the PH Government, along with the majority of the Chinese, Indian, Kadazan-Dusun and Dayak communities, are watching the integrity of the people appointed to helm the various ministries. 

I am a strong supporter of Pakatan Harapan, and looking at the bigger picture, I would still vote for Pakatan Harapan. However, I have little confidence in Maszlee as the minister of education. You can send him a thousand letters, and he would not respond. Many issues are brought up to his attention, but sadly, no solution is at hand.

Inexperience is one thing but having the political will to stand up and be counted is another thing. It is the latter that I see Maszlee is sadly lacking. 

When opposition towards the UEC recognition came from Umno and also within Bersatu, from people like the last-minute turncoat, Rais Yatim, he did not dare to move forward. This is my honest observation. 

Using terms like 'holistic study', Maszlee could only say that the new government would have to look into all the aspects surrounding the UEC recognition, as if this would rock the entire nation. 

Tell me, had a study not been carried out by the Barisan Nasional government which led to the agreement to recognise the UEC if they won the general election? Was this not included in the BN manifesto for GE14? 

BN has proven itself to be a big liar, especially after they lost the general election, and when the UEC debates came up, they started opposing the Pakatan Government's initiative to give UEC the recognition. I could not recall if MCA or Gerakan had even objected against Umno's disposition. 

Both sides Pakatan Harapan and Barisan Nasional have to learn that the UEC is only a certificate, yet it has become one of the hottest issue in Malaysian politics.

Talking about national unity, it is this kind of unhealthy politics that has divided us as Malaysians. It is not the different streams of education or the different systems of education. People who say that one stream of education can unite Malaysians are believing in a myth and they do not understand that there can be unity in diversity. 

Having all our children attending the national schools does not necessary unite us as Malaysians, just as not all Malays, despite speaking the same language and practising the same religion, voted for Umno in the last general election. 

What unite us together is the unspoken language of love, not the spoken or written languages of the world. 

Umno which projected itself as the champion of Malay rights and Islam was ditched by the rakyat. The then Umno president, Najib Abdul Razak had placed Malaysia on world map as a "kleptocracy at its worst." 

If you are a Malay with a sense of dignity, would you stand united with Najib just because you speak the same language, or would you look at the UEC issue objectively and say that there is no reason why it cannot be recognised by the Malaysian Government.

Over 800 universities around the world have recognised the UEC, why is Maszlee still dragging his feet?

END.