Board slammed for not recognising UEC
They were very concerned about the decision because it affects the UEC students and were also of the view that LPQB did not give attached notice and they were caught by surprise. — Wong Ching Yong, SUPP Dudong chairman
SIBU: The Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP) Dudong and Advocates Association Sarawak Sibu (AASS) have slammed the Legal Profession Qualifying Board (LPQB) for not recognising the Unified Examination Certificate (UEC).
SUPP Dudong chairman Wong Ching Yong said LPQB’s decision has meant that UEC holders cannot take the Certificate in Legal Practice (CLP).
He said the Brickfields Asia College Kuala Lumpur CLP officer in charge confirmed receiving a letter detailing the decision from LPQB on Thursday.
“They were very concerned about the decision because it affects the UEC students and were also of the view that LPQB did not give attached notice and they were caught by surprise,” he told a press conference yesterday.
Wong called the decision ‘unfair and prejudicial’, pointing out that the state government has fully recognised UEC since 2012.
“We are also of the view that the decision may be determined without the full knowledge of the members of the LPQB.
“In other words, it came as a decision of some civil servants, so called the ‘little Napoleons’. We view the decision as aggressive in nature because the UEC is recognised throughout the world in more than 500 higher learning institutions,” he added.
AASS chairman David Kuok said the association did not understand the reasoning behind the decision as the UEC is recognised as a qualification equivalent to Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) and Sijil Tinggi Persekolahan Malaysia (STPM).
According to him, although the decision was made on Sept 23, 2005, many UEC holders successfully sat for the CLP and became qualified lawyers prior to and after that date.
“There will be a central committee meeting for the Advocates of Sarawak Association on Dec 17. So our branch will certainly bring this matter up at the meeting and hopefully after deliberation we will come up with some decisions,” he added.
AASS secretary Peter Lau added the professional qualifying course is a transitional course for a law student who has completed the Bachelor of Laws (LLB).
“If you look at Commonwealth countries like UK, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand, they also have this kind of transitional course generally known as bar examination. If you look at their final entry, they focus on your achievement and qualification in your LLB degree, which is a law degree.
“However it seems that in Malaysia, our LPQB is taking a step further by looking backwards, what they have done in the secondary school achievement and the completion of their secondary school. It is a matter which we have no idea the logic behind it, because going by their logic, even a person who graduated with an LLB, got the master’s LLM (Master of Laws), and even gotten the PhD (Doctor of Laws) in law, they are not qualified to sit for the CLP examination simply because they are UEC students without SPM or STPM,” he added.