UEC will widen gap between races, says Umno
KUALA LUMPUR: Umno disagrees with the government’s move to recognise the Unified Examination Certificate (UEC).
The party’s vice-president, Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob, said UEC did not follow the National Education Policy.
As such, he said, it would create disunity among the people and widen the gap between the races.
He said the UEC examination papers were prepared by Chinese independent high schools and not by the Malaysian Examinations Syndicate.
“The standard of Bahasa Melayu pa- pers are lower than the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) level, with other subjects in Mandarin taken from Taiwan.”
UEC is issued to graduates of Chinese independent high schools.
The United Chinese School Committees’ Association of Malaysia (Dong Zong) had been pushing for UEC to be recognised for many years.
Ismail said the Malay community would disapprove the recognition of UEC as it would make the national school stream standards inferior and also make it difficult for school leavers to get jobs.
“If it (UEC) is recognised, it would be easier for those taking UEC to get jobs especially in the public sector,” he said.
“This would create competition for SPM holders, who follow the National Education Policy.
“Giving priority to UEC does not give equality to SPM leavers.”
He said if UEC was recognised, other education certifications would abandon the National Education Policy.
“In the end, no one will respect the policy.
“The government should focus on efforts to foster national unity instead of placing the people in such a situation.
“This (UEC) system, which is being used in Taiwan, is not included in the National Education Policy, and is inconsistent with the policy, which includes Bahasa Melayu as the main language of the country.
“The main language should be the core in every country as it (language) represents the nation,” he said.
In Ayer Keroh, Jasin and Kota Melaka Umno Youth urged the state government to hold a dialogue on the need to recognise UEC as a requirement for employment in the state.
Jasin Umno Youth chief Dr Muhammad Akmal Salleh made the call to Chief Minister Adly Zahari.
The state government did not respond to the first letter seeking a dialogue sent of July 5.
“We want a dialogue to talk about the good and bad, and we want to know why the government wants to implement the policy.
“As a good opposition, we want to be the checks-and-balances.
“If it is good, we have suggestions for improvement,” he said at Seri Bendahara here yesterday.
He said among the suggestions they would put forward was for the government to recognise graduates of religious, pondok and tahfiz schools.
“Religious and tahfiz school certificates should be accepted if we’re talking about freedom and justice.”