MCA urged to reveal 'Chinese education deal' in full

 

MCA has been urged to reveal fully the deal it had allegedly struck with BN over Chinese education when amending  the Education Bill some 17 years ago.

This followed an alleged official letter revealed by Dong Zong (United Chinese School Committees Association), which purportedly shows that MCA had agreed to maintain the status quo regarding recognition of the Unified Examination Certificate (UEC).

The letter dated Sept 3, 2010 has proved the existence of such a deal between MCA and BN, claimed Dong Zong deputy president Chow Siew Hon (left) during a press conference.

Chow said it was written by Dr Zahri Aziz, director of the Educational Policy Planning & Research Division, and was in response to a request for the government to recognise the UEC.

“The letter  also said if that if the government was urged to recognise UEC, then it would be fair to relook at the ‘overall deal’ (keseluruhan persetujuan) struck, when Section 21(2) of the Education Act 1961 was abolished,” he said.

Chow said a recent statement made by Deputy Prime Minister and Education Minister Muhyiddin Yassin also proved the deal existed.

“Muhyiddin said his hands were tied by the Education Act and the historical deal, when responding to a request to open a Chinese indepence school in Kuantan,” said Chow, adding that this made the NGO sceptical about the extent of the deal.

Chow has demanded that MCA look into the issue and reveal in full the contents of such a deal in three weeks time.

Failing which, Chow said, the NGO might might take further action such as holding a protest and combining its effort with that of other Chinese NGOs to pressure the Chinese-based political party and government to respond.

“What we want is to relook into the contents and to reverse the situation if such a deal really exists,” he said.

When asked about MCA’s denial, Chow said, “If the finding shows that the deal doesn’t exist or is fake, then Muhyiddin must be lying.”