DAP ready to quit govt over exam certificate: Leader

He later says remarks over certification for Chinese schools were taken out of context

In a photo taken on April 29, 2018, Democratic Action Party deputy secretary-general Nga Kor Ming at the Parti Keadilan Rakyat office in Teluk Intan. PHOTO: ST FILE

KUALA LUMPUR • A leader of Malaysia's Democratic Action Party (DAP) said the party is ready to quit the country's ruling coalition, which has been in power for 20 months, for its failure to recognise the Unified Examination Certificate (UEC) for Chinese schools.

The threat from Mr Nga Kor Ming, deputy secretary-general of the DAP, comes at a bad time for the four-party Pakatan Harapan (PH) government, which is already weakened by infighting, plunging voter support and renewed optimism in the opposition camp led by Umno and Parti Islam SeMalaysia after winning five by-elections.

The Chinese-based DAP has 42 MPs, or 30 per cent of PH's 139 lawmakers, in the Malaysian Parliament. Only Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim's Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) has more MPs - 50 - in the Lower House.

Mr Nga told Chinese paper Oriental Daily: "We reached a consensus that DAP will withdraw from the government if UEC is not recognised. It doesn't matter if we are no longer part of the ruling government. This is the principle we will uphold."

Part of the interview with Mr Nga was uploaded on the paper's website yesterday and reported by Malaysiakini news site.

Mr Nga later told Free Malaysia Today online news that his remarks were taken out of context in an hour-long interview with the Chinese-language newspaper about parliamentary reforms. He also tweeted his response to the news site.

"Obviously it has been taken out of context and the heading is inaccurate," he told Free Malaysia Today, when asked to comment about his remarks in Malaysiakini. He was referring to the headline: "Nga: DAP will not hesitate to leave govt if UEC not recognised".

The UEC is equivalent to an A-level certificate for Malaysia's 300-plus independent Chinese secondary schools.

Its official recognition would allow certificate holders to apply for entry into all local colleges and use it when applying for local jobs.

Recognising the UEC is one of the election promises made by PH.

Malaysia's Education Ministry set up a task force to look into the issue of recognising the UEC in October 2018, five months after winning the general election.

But Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad's administration, just like the previous Umno-led Barisan Nasional (BN) government which ruled the country for 61 years, is believed to be dragging its feet because most Malay voters are dead set against the UEC's recognition. They would like to see all post-secondary students taking up the national A-level equivalent exams, STPM.

A report in The Star newspaper in July last year said the UEC exams were into its 45th year then, after being introduced in 1975, with nearly 646,000 certificate holders in total.

The report said the UEC is recognised by higher learning institutions in places such as Singapore, Britain, the United States, Australia, China, Taiwan and Japan. Many UEC holders must now study abroad to get degrees, a big financial burden for poor Chinese families.

Recognition of the certificate by the government was central to the DAP's campaign platform to claim Malaysian Chinese were marginalised when it was in the opposition.

The party often railed against the Malaysian Chinese Association, a component party of the then ruling BN, for failing to get the government to recognise the certificate.

Today, the DAP is facing the same pressure from the Chinese community, which comprises 21 per cent of Malaysia's 32 million population.

Mr Nga, in the interview, acknowledged that his party has been criticised for not being as vocal in raising issues, but said the perception is not correct.

He said: "DAP is not silent after becoming part of the government. We are braver to speak out, now that we have the government channel and this can be seen in the Cabinet meetings."

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on January 30, 2020, with the headline DAP ready to quit govt over exam certificate: Leader. Subscribe