A REPORT by the task force on the United Examinations Certificate (UEC) issue is still being worked on, said the committee’s chief after it was temporarily shelved due to the movement-control order (MCO).

Eddin Khoo, who heads the committee, said the body had completed its work on February 29 and was preparing to write the report when the MCO was imposed on March 18 to battle the Covid-19 pandemic.

Work on the report only resumed at the end of July and into August, Khoo told The Malaysian Insight.

“We have to go through various internal processes and channels first before we submit the report to the cabinet,” Khoo said.

He declined to say when this process will be completed.

The task force’s goals were to look into whether the government should recognise the UEC, an exam that is primarily used by private Chinese vernacular secondary schools.

The certificate, which is the equivalent of the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia, is recognised by many universities all over the world including in the United Kingdom and United States.

Chinese education groups have campaigned for decades to get the federal government to recognise the UEC.

In 2015, Sarawak was the first to recognise the certificate, allowing those who hold the certificate to work in the civil service and study at Universiti Malaysia Sarawak.

Penang, Selangor and Malacca have since also recognised the qualification for entry into the civil service and state government-controlled tertiary education institutions.

When Pakatan Harapan took over Putrajaya in 2018, it formed the task force to look into issues surrounding the UEC’s recognition.

The committee comprised Khoo, United Chinese School Committees’ Association of Malaysia deputy president Tan Yew Sing and Muslim Islamic Youth Movement of Malaysia president Mohamad Raimi Abdul Rahim.

The committee held close to 60 dialogue sessions with education groups, civil society organisations and political parties and was preparing its report when the PH government collapsed on February 24.

Former deputy education minister Teo Nie Ching questioned today whether the Perikatan Nasional government, which took over federal power from PH at the end of February, had dissolved the task force.

Teo claimed Education Minister Mohd Radzi Jidin had informed her a few days ago he had never received any report from the task force.

“Unfortunately, his response was that since the report was not received, the special committee has been automatically dissolved,” she said in a Facebook live session today.

“The ministry did not give them time, then how can the report be submitted? Could it be that the ministry rather not receive the report?” she asked.

Teo said she was looking forward to the report since the task force has invested considerable time into studying the issue.

“During PH’s reign, we planned to complete this report within half a year, hence they were very serious about it.

“The number of dialogue sessions and hearings held was more than we expected. They visited Chinese primary schools, Malay organisations, political parties, among others.

The committee had begun writing the report when Dr Maszlee Malik resigned as education minister and was replaced by then prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

“Later, Dr Mahathir became the acting education minister. Dr Mahathir agreed to meet with the group sometime in March and accept the report,” she said. – August 9, 2020.