AUGUST 2 — While fighting for government recognition of UEC, it is absolutely necessary for the Chinese community to try to break the resistance of our non-Chinese fellow Malaysians in a bid to win their support and recognition.

Several days ago, Dong Zong organised an inter-community dialogue on the issue of UEC recognition. Some non-Chinese organisations were invited to the dialogue to allow them to gain a better understanding of the issue while trying to dissolve their misunderstandings.

Although the major participants at this dialogue were Chinese organisations, there were representatives from two non-Chinese organisations at the meeting, namely Pendidikan Ikram Musleh and Tamil Foundation Malaysia.

This marked a good beginning in an attempt to bridge the differences and allay the misunderstandings of non-Chinese communities towards UEC.

For the past so many years the Malaysian Chinese community has been fighting tor the government’s recognition of UEC certificate. Even though we have seen a flicker of hope in more recent years, substantial outcome is still absent.

As such, the community has been actively working with political parties to fight for the recognition of UEC.

This aside, the Chinese community and Dong Zong should also tackle this issue from a different approach, by trying to win the acceptance of other communities in a bid to remove the misunderstandings and obstacles in creating a truly favourable atmosphere for UEC recognition.

As a matter of fact, many non-Chinese know very little about UEC, but under the influences of specific groups of people, they have some misperception about the issue. For instance, Perkasa has several months ago held a roundtable meeting against government recognition of UEC, sending a wrong message to the Malay society.

Perkasa is not the only organisation that is against UEC. The Federation of Peninsula Malay Students (GPMS) also expressed its stand against government recognition of UEC earlier.

While Perkasa and GPMS cannot represent the entire Malay society, we cannot deny that the Malay society does not understand UEC and has misperception about it.

Under the misguidance of some irresponsible quarters, the Malays generally believe that the UEC curriculum lacks localized content and does not reflect the actual situation of this country.

GPMS has even accused UEC of adopting the Taiwanese curriculum.

However, as Dong Zong has explained, UEC curriculum conforms to national curriculum and its content is substantially localized and diversified.

UEC certificate is widely accepted throughout the world, attesting to the fact that its academic standard is up to the mark. Unfortunately in the diverse ethnic, political and linguistic environment of this country, the issue of UEC recognition has become more than just a simple educational issue.

As such, in the process of fighting for government recognition of UEC, it is absolutely necessary for the Chinese community to try to break the resistance of our non-Chinese fellow Malaysians to win their support and recognition.

The misunderstandings non-Chinese have towards UEC have largely stemmed from the misinformation they are being fed. Consequently, such an inter-community dialogue to deliver the right information to them is of utmost importance.

Dong Zong should keep organising dialogues like this in the future to clarify the doubts and misunderstandings people may have towards UEC so that they may become a positive force that will facilitate the government recognition of UEC instead of being a powerful resistance that will curtail all our efforts. — Sin Chew Daily

* This article was first published here.

** This is the personal opinion of the writer and does not necessarily represent the views of Malay Mail Online.