Dread of the DAP - PM recognising UEC

Malaysiakini:

PM hopes for government recognition of UEC, says Huazong

Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin personally hopes that the government will one day recognise the Unified Examination Certificate (UEC), said the Federation of Chinese Associations Malaysia (Huazong).

The association said the premier expressed this aspiration during a meeting with Huazong representatives at the Parliament building yesterday.

In its statement today, the association said that Muhyiddin expressed the government’s willingness to negotiate with Huazong and other Chinese civil society groups on the UEC issue, but had urged all parties to understand the country’s policies and circumstances.

It said the prime minister told the meeting that the government and Chinese civil society groups could use national policies and current conditions as a foundation for further negotiation and study.

This would lead to a win-win solution for all parties, said the statement, which added that Muhyiddin expressed hope the issue could be “deradicalized” and handled in a rational manner.

It quoted Muhyiddin expressing his personal views that "If possible, I too hope the government would finally recognise UEC."

According to the Huazong statement, the association's delegation yesterday was led by their chairperson Goh Tian Chuan to discuss national issues as well as issues affecting Chinese Malaysians.

One of the issues raised was the longstanding demand for government recognition of the UEC.

According to the statement, Muhyiddin joked that this would be a “thorny” issue to tackle, but since UEC already exists, the government would continue to study and discuss ways to manage the issue.

Muhyiddin (above) supposedly said that during his tenure as education minister under the BN administration, the hardline stance taken by the United Chinese Schools Teachers' Association (Jiao Zong) and the United Chinese School Committees' Association (Dong Zong) made it difficult for the government to handle the issue.

As such, Muhyiddin told the meeting that consensus can only be reached through a collaborative spirit that takes into account Malaysia’s policies and circumstances.

According to the statement, Goh said Huazong fully supports Muhyiddin’s approach to resolving the impasse over UEC recognition and is willing to work with the government on the issue.

The statement said Goh also presented Muhyiddin with a piece of Chinese calligraphy featuring this year’s Merdeka Day theme “Malaysia Cares” during the meeting.

A photo of Muhyiddin holding the artwork together with Huazong representatives has been posted on his Facebook page, but this drew brickbats from netizens who accuse Huazong of disrespecting the national language.

Muhyiddin was previously a member of the Pakatan Harapan administration before becoming prime minister in the events following the Sheraton Move in February.

As part of its election pledges, Harapan promised that UEC examination results would be recognised for enrolment to public universities as long as students also obtain a credit in the SPM Bahasa Malaysia subject.

The Harapan-led administration had set up a special taskforce to study the matter. The taskforce completed its report in January this year but did not submit it because the then education minister Maszlee Malik had resigned.

There has been no word on the report since Perikatan Nasional took power.

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kt notes:

Malay conservative forces within PN (especially from PAS and UMNO) may, nay, WILL deter, dissuade and discourage Muhyiddin from acting too hastily on this issue, generally a Malay bête noire.

Indeed even as we write this post, PPBM Youth Education spokesperson Mohd Ashraf Mustaqim Badrul Munir (as reported by Malaysiakini) has called on all parties not to muddy the waters of the Unified Examination Certificate (UEC) issue after the Federation of Chinese Associations Malaysia (Huazong) said yesterday that premier Muhyiddin Yassin personally hopes the government will one day recognise it.

The association had said that the premier expressed this aspiration during a meeting with Huazong representatives at the Parliament building yesterday.

Mohd Ashraf claimed that it appeared to be an attempt by several parties to incite racist sentiments and anger the Malays against Muhyiddin's leadership on this issue.

"If you look closely at the statement from (the prime minister's) official Facebook page, it is clearly reported that the discussions between the two parties were comprehensive on the development of the Chinese community.

"It is essential for Muhyiddin as Prime Minister to listen and open accommodation to achieve national integration, and it is not an error.

"There is, however, no statement from Muhyiddin that he wants to recognise UEC as a whole, as the opposition has started to play up," claimed Mohd Ashraf.

"The evidence that the PM personally hoped that the government would recognize the UEC was just a claim made by Huazong and reported by the media," he said.

Nonetheless, if Muhyiddin can swing this one, the Malay-hated UEC and a most tricky Gordian knot for him, he will be feted and loved by Chinese Malaysians, of course with MCA benefiting, no doubt much to DAP's distress and fears, wakakaka.

How Alexander the Great "untied" the Gordian Knot, wakakaka 

The Phrygians were without a king, but an oracle at Telmissus (the ancient capital of Lycia) decreed that the next man to enter the city driving an ox-cart should become their king. A peasant farmer named Gordias drove into town on an ox-cart and was immediately declared king.

Out of gratitude, his son Midas dedicated the ox-cart to the Phrygian god Sabazios and tied it to a post with an intricate knot of cornel bark. 

The ox-cart still stood in the palace of the former kings of Phrygia at Gordium in the fourth century BC when Alexander arrived. An oracle had declared that any man who could unravel its elaborate knots was destined to become ruler of all of Asia.

Alexander wanted to untie the knot but struggled to do so without success. He then reasoned that it would make no difference how the knot was loosed, so he drew his sword and sliced it in half with a single stroke.