Urimai chairman P Ramasamy has criticised a prominent academic for claiming that the Unified Examination Certificate (UEC) falls outside the Federal Constitution due to its use of Chinese as the medium of instruction.
Ramasamy was responding to comments by National Professors Council (MPN) president Raduan Che Rose, who argued that the UEC operates outside the national education framework despite its academic standards, citing the importance of Bahasa Melayu as the national language.
In a statement, Ramasamy questioned the consistency of this argument, pointing out that several public universities in Malaysia use English as the medium of instruction to enhance international exposure. He asked whether this practice also contradicted the Federal Constitution or the national education framework.
“In his eagerness to reject the recognition of the UEC, Raduan fails to explain why English is used as the medium of instruction at some public universities,” Ramasamy said. “By the same logic, the use of English in public universities could also be deemed unconstitutional and an obstacle to the implementation of Bahasa Melayu as the national language.”
Ramasamy stressed that while Bahasa Melayu is the national language, the Federal Constitution allows vernacular schools to use Mandarin or Tamil as their medium of instruction. He argued that this constitutional provision undermines claims that the UEC is unconstitutional solely because it is taught in Chinese.
Raduan was previously quoted as saying that any academic qualification recognised for entry into public universities or the civil service must include proficiency in Bahasa Melayu and reflect national history, constitutional literacy and civic education. He called for a careful and principled review of the UEC based on constitutional provisions, national education policy and Malaysia’s nation-building goals.
The UEC was developed by the United Chinese School Committees’ Association of Malaysia (Dong Zong) after Chinese independent schools chose to remain outside the national curriculum in 1961 to preserve Chinese-medium education. While the qualification is academically comparable to the Sijil Tinggi Persekolahan Malaysia (STPM) and international A-levels, it is not recognised for direct entry into public universities, though it is accepted by state-run universities in Sabah and Sarawak.
