KUALA LUMPUR: Dewan Negara senator Datuk Seri Ti Lian Ker said three top Pakatan Harapan (PH) leaders were the main obstacles who prevented the Unified Examination Certificate (UEC) from being recognised.
He named the trio as Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, newly minted PKR president Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (BERSATU) president Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.
He said one only needed to look at the history behind all three of the leaders to see how they had prevented the UEC from being recognised.
The MCA publicity spokesman also pointed out that the DAP had previously promised to recognise UEC as soon as PH captured Putrajaya but nothing had happened thus far.
“I remember telling the Kulai member of parliament (Teo Nie Ching) not to make empty promises before she was appointed as the deputy education minister. I had then advised her to seek the prime minister, Anwar and Muhyiddin’s approval first because they are the ones who have been a hindrance to UEC being recognised all this while,” he said at Dewan Negara today.
The issue of recognising the UEC has been a contentious debate among Malaysians from different socioeconomic and cultural backgrounds over the previous years.
The previous government said it did not recognise the UEC as Chinese secondary schools do not follow the national education curriculum and its students lacked proficiency in Bahasa Malaysia.
As the UEC isn’t recognised, holders of the education certificate are unable to enrol in public universities.
The education certification is conducted by independent Chinese schools and is equivalent to the SPM.
Meanwhile, in another development, Ti said the government would probably end up losing between RM25 and RM30 billion paying compensation after cancelling the East Coast Rail Link (ECRL) project.
He said a better option would be for the government to find a solution to the problem instead outrightly cancelling it.