Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA) who is representing Malaysian Chinese ethnicity said that Unified Examination Certificate (UEC) has obtained an ISO 9001 :2008 quality management certification from four countries which were China, Malaysia, Japan, and United Kingdom. Datuk Seri Dr Wee Ka Siong, which is the MCA deputy president said that UEC was accepted as entry qualifications by more than half of private colleges and universities in Malaysia.
More than 1,000 private and public, colleges and universities, in countries such as the United Kingdom, Japan, United States, Australia, China, and Singapore have been recognized UEC in study applications. Dr Wee also said the curriculum of Chinese independent high schools and the UEC examinations were set out by the United Chinese School Committees Association (Dong Zong). It is not set out by the administration of the respective Chinese vernacular schools. Vincent Lau Lee Ming, chairman of the United Chinese School Committees Association of Malaysia (Dong Zong), which organizes the UEC, had denied the claims that the syllabus for UEC’s history subject had been taken from Taiwan and China.
He said Dong Zong was readied to talk about it with the Ministry of Education Malaysia on its decision to require students to pass history subject to get a UEC certificate. In addition, Dr Wee said the recognition of UEC would not endanger the status of Bahasa Malaysia as the national language. It is because, UEC students must also attain the requirement of at least a credit in Bahasa Melayu in SPM. He also said that multi-stream education system is not a hindrance to national unity as there are now more non-Chinese students which are Malays and Indians attending national-type Chinese schools which is Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan Cina (SJKC) and Chinese independent secondary schools (SMPC). The two types of school which one of the multi-stream education system in Malaysia, never have the plan or wish to gain control of the main national education.
