Mohsin Abdullah 【一劳永逸承认统考文凭】

民兴党领导的沙巴州政府宣布承认统考文凭。这些都是我们已知的事。

他们是在不久前宣布的，并引起了极大的欣喜。此举被誉为“将让沙巴受益的坚定措施”。

新加坡国际事务研究所高级研究员胡逸山博士说，独中一直以来都是大马和沙巴多源流教育制度中的重要部分，且 “统考文凭持有者在我们的社会经济中发挥了宝贵和建设性的作用” 。

在沙巴出生的胡逸山，也是统考文凭持有者，由于60所独中有9所位于沙巴，沙巴州政府承认统考文凭这一 “大胆的举措” 只会为沙巴带来 “数不清的利益”。

我们都知道，承认统考文凭是一个长期存在的问题。更别说其复杂性。但总而言之 ── 这是一个关于统考文凭毕业生进入公立大学和公共领域的问题。简单来说。

其中也一直存在种族因素。再加上不团结和不爱国的问题。实际上，这些因素造成了向政府争取承认，或全国承认统考的最大障碍。

争论漫长而激烈。而且还在持续。现在，它又再次出现，因为许多统考生发现出国留学太贵了。因此，他们想进入家乡的公立大学求学。但是如果统考文凭没有获得官方承认，这些都不可行。因此他们必须努力争取。

但是批评者（考虑到对方采取的攻击性言论，这应该是正确的词汇）迅速提醒所有人，多年前独中曾“获得献议加入”国家教育体制（改制为华中）但遭到部分拒绝。从那时候起，这个决定一直困扰着他们。这些都是后话。

现在最主要的是许多人不知道但又很想知道的事是，布城是否会跟进沙巴？民兴党毕竟是希望联盟政府的一部分。

胡逸山肯定希望如此。“这（沙巴的决定）也将促使联邦政府采取正确的行动，并追随沙巴的脚步。”胡逸山表示。

那么联邦当局会这么做吗？跟随沙巴的脚步。但在此之前，必须指出的是，在沙巴之前，希盟领导的马六甲州政府已经承认统考文凭了。据报道，没有设下任何条件。早在2018年7月。

马六甲首席部长阿德里说，随着州政府承认统考，独中统考文凭持有者将能够成为州公务员。

但是，当被问及统考文凭持有者是否可以申请进入高等教育机构时，首席部长表示，这项承认暂时仅限州政府层面，并将在适当的时候扩展到该州的其他层面。

我认为已经够好了。但是我不知道为什么马六甲没有像沙巴那样大张旗鼓。

无论如何，回到问题上──联邦政府是否会跟随沙巴的脚步，就像胡逸山敦促的那样？好吧，他们既然没有跟随马六甲的脚步，为什么他们要跟随沙巴的？

持平而论，联邦政府已经通过教育部成立了一个工作队，负责收集反馈、相关讯息并就承认统考文凭的问题提出建议。

该工作队的主席是作家兼文化活跃分子邱武英。其他成员还有大马伊斯兰青年运动（ABIM）主席莫哈末拉依米和董总署理主席陈友信。

邱武英指出，州政府的决定不影响工作队的决定和结果。

对于沙巴承认统考文凭，邱武英说，除了媒体报道之外，他对消息一无所知。但他接着说，最重要的是细节。

随着媒体报道的发展看来，统考文凭生似乎也需要持有大马教育文凭。因此，正如他所看到的那样，这可以理解为学生进入公立大学的门槛将是大马教育文凭成绩，而不是统考成绩本身。

在不贬低沙巴州的情况下，我认为这似乎对承认统考文凭“起不了作用”。根据邱武英的说法，“这就是为什么我说细节很重要，且是必须厘清的部分”。

沙巴首席部长沙菲益在作出宣布时说，该承认附带“某些条件”。但是在撰写本文时，我尚未获得详细内容。

除了沙巴或马六甲，联邦政府的任何决定将最大程度取决于工作队的建议和报道。

至今，该工作队访问了72名个人或团体，包括所有利益相关者。每人至少给予两个小时时间。工作队还要访问更多的人，以了解他们的观点、建议和想法。

这是一个复杂的问题，也是一个复杂的过程。只有在一切准备就绪之后，最终报告才会提呈给政府以采取进一步的行动。

将近40年以来，统考文凭一直是一个有争议的课题，对邱武英而言，“必须一劳永逸地解决，让人们可以理解它实际上是什么”。

Recognising the UEC: Sabah now, the entire country next?

By Mohsin Abdullah

The Warisan-led Sabah state government has recognised the Unified Examination Certificate or UEC of Chinese independent secondary schools. That we all know already.

The announcement was made not too long ago and it created quite a euphoria, so to speak. It has been hailed as a “resolute step that will benefit Sabah”.

Dr Hu Yi Shan, senior fellow at Singapore Institute for International Affairs, says Chinese independent schools have always been part and parcel of Malaysian and Sabah’s multi-streamed education system, and “the UEC holders have played invaluably constructive roles in our social economy”.

According to Sabah-born Hu, who is also a UEC holder, as nine of the more than 60 Chinese independent schools are located in Sabah, this “bold step” by the state government to recognise the UEC would only bring about “innumerable benefits” to Sabah.

We all know that the recognition of the UEC is a long-standing issue, not to mention complicated. But to make a long complicated story short, it's about students of the UEC getting entry to public universities and for UEC graduates gaining entrance to the public service. That is to put it plainly.

And there has always been a racial element to it, with question of disunity and unpatriotism thrown in. In fact, such elements are one if not the biggest hindrance to effort for the UEC getting government, or should it be national, recognition.

The arguments are long and fiery, and it's still going on. Now it has cropped up again as many UEC students are finding it too expensive to study abroad, and therefore wanting to pursue their studies at home in public universities. But without UEC being officially recognised, this is a no-go, hence the effort to get recognition.

However, critics (if that’s the right word to use considering the explosive line of attack being taken) are quick to remind all and sundry that years ago the UEC was “offered to join” the national education system but the offer was turned down. Such a decision has kept haunting it ever since. That’s another story for another day.

Now to the main thing many don’t know but really want to know. Will Putrajaya do what Sabah has done? Warisan is after all part of the Pakatan Harapan administration.

Hu certainly wants that. “This (Sabah decision) would also serve to propel the federal authorities to do the right thing and follow Sabah's footsteps,” he says.

So, will the federal authorities do that? Follow Sabah’s footsteps, that is? But before that, it must be pointed out that even before Sabah, the Pakatan Harapan-led Melaka government has recognised UEC without any condition back in July 2018, it was reported.

Melaka chief minister Adly Zakaria was quoted as saying following the state government’s recognition of the UEC, holders of the Chinese independent school certificate will be recruited into the state’s civil service.

But when asked if UEC holders can apply for admission to tertiary education institutions, the chief minister said the recognition is limited to the state administration for the time being and will be extended to other areas in the state in due course.

Still good enough, I would say, but I don’t know why the Melaka announcement wasn’t met with much fanfare compared to one by Sabah.

Anyway, back to the question: will the federal government follow Sabah’s footsteps as urged by Hu? Well, if it did not follow Melaka, why should it follow Sabah, up till now?

But to be fair to the federal government, it has through the education ministry formed a task force to gather feedback, relevant information and make recommendations on the UEC issue.

Chairman of the task force is author and cultural activist Eddin Khoo. Other members are ABIM president Raimi Abdul Rahim and Dong Zong deputy president Datuk Tan Yew Sing.

According to Khoo, decisions of state governments do not influence decisions and findings of the task force.

As for Sabah's recognition of the UEC, Khoo said he was not privy to information other than what has been reported by the media. However, he went on to say the most important thing would be details.

As media reports go, it seems that UEC students need to do SPM as well. Therefore, as he sees it, that can be read as entrance of students into local public varsities would be on SPM results, not UEC per se.

Without downplaying the Sabah decision, I see that seemingly like “defeating the purpose” of wanting UEC recognised in the first place. That, according to Khoo, seems to be the case and “that’s why I say details are important and clarification needed”.

When making the Sabah announcement, chief minister Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal said there were “certain conditions” that came with the recognition. But at the time of writing, details are not yet available.

Sabah or Melaka aside, any decision by the federal government would be hugely based on recommendations and report submitted by the task force.

The task force has interviewed 72 individuals or groups comprising all stakeholders thus far, each accorded at least two hours. More will be interviewed for their views, comments and thoughts.

It is a complex issue and an elaborate process. When everything is in place only then the final report will be submitted to the government to act upon.

The UEC has been a controversial issue for close to four decades, and to Khoo, “it must be put in context once and for all so that people can understand it for what it actually is.”

(Mohsin Abdullah is a veteran journalist and now a freelancer who writes about this, that and everything else.)

作者 ： 莫辛阿都拉
文章来源 ： 星洲日报 2019-10-21