Education Minister Dr Maszlee should support his Deputy Teo Nie Ching’s goal to recognise UEC by year end

The Minister of Education Dr Maszlee Malik should not make fun of his political opponents, but instead, clearly provide the date by which the United Examinations Certificate (UEC) will be recognised. He should show support for his Deputy Minister of Education Teo Nie Ching’s goal to have the UEC fully recognised by the end of the year.  

MCA would not mind if the Minister had ridiculed the former government in order to shirk responsibility on the question of recognising the UEC. However, in the ridicule, the Minister should show sincerity on fulfilling its Pakatan Harapan Manifesto to recognise the UEC. This may be done by announcing a clear timetable, as advised by Deputy Minister Teo earlier this year.

In fact, the technical issues regarding recognising the UEC for enrolment into public institutes of higher learning can be resolved as early as Hari Merdeka, so long as there is sufficient communication within the Ministry of Education. Thus, there would be no need to spend more time in making a decision. For technical issues, the government only needs to make a political decision and announce the recognition of UEC.

Speaking to reporters, he said that there is no need to wait for 60 years for the UEC to be recognise there is no u-turn on the UEC’s recognition. If there is no u-turn, Dr Maszlee should support Deputy Education Minister Teo and complete the aim of getting the UEC recognised by year end.

During BN’s tenure, from 1974 to 1978 Tun Dr Mahathir Mohammad served as Minister of Education, and then as Prime Minister from 1981 to 2003; from 1986 to 1990, the Minister of Education was Dato’ Seri Anwar Ibrahim; from 2009 to 2015, the Minister of Education was Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin. If Dr Maszlee still wants to blame the former BN government, it would be coherent to correct the mistakes of the past with the three former Ministers of Education and ask them to support himself and Teo so that they can recognise the UEC by the end of this year. This would be a constructive approach to undertake, rather than blaming BN.

Datuk Chong Sin Woon
MCA Youth Chairman
MCA Education Consultative Committee Deputy Chairman

-MCA online-