KUALA LUMPUR — Former Economy Minister Rafizi Ramli has urged Malaysians to ground the long-running debate over the Unified Examination Certificate (UEC) in facts and future education needs, noting that only 63 schools nationwide currently offer the qualification, involving a minority of Chinese secondary school students.
Speaking on the issue of education pathways and national cohesion, Rafizi said public discourse around UEC has often been driven by emotion and political mobilisation rather than data.
“Do we actually know how many students are involved in UEC? How many schools in Malaysia offer it?
“In reality, Chinese schools that offer UEC are private secondary schools. There are only 61, plus two hybrid schools, making it 63 in total," he said in his Youtube Channel
He said the total number of students enrolled in these schools is about 90,000, out of more than 400,000 Chinese students at the secondary level nationwide — roughly 20 per cent.
“That means about 80 per cent of Chinese students in Malaysia go through the national education system,” Rafizi said, stressing that claims suggesting UEC threatens national unity are not supported by numbers.
Rafizi acknowledged that UEC remains a sensitive issue among Malays, largely due to historical concerns that it reflects a reluctance to integrate into a national education framework set by the government.
At the same time, he said Chinese communities view Mandarin-based education as essential, especially as global economic realities shift.
“Mandarin is becoming a key advantage. China is emerging as a major global power, and countries will increasingly need to engage with China,” he said, adding that demand for Chinese-language education has risen since the late 1990s after declining in earlier decades.
He said this resurgence has complicated policymaking, as vernacular schools argue they have funded their own institutions for decades without consistent government assistance.
“They ask why A-Levels and the International Baccalaureate are accepted, but not UEC, even though UEC is recognised by more than 100 universities worldwide, including leading institutions,” he said.
Rafizi described the UEC debate as “political dopamine” exploited by multiple parties, making the issue increasingly emotive and difficult to resolve.
“To understand where UEC should go, we need to look at three perspectives: the future demand for Mandarin, the historical and emotional context, and the actual numbers involved,” he said.
He argued that prolonged disputes over UEC are no longer aligned with the country’s future needs, suggesting Malaysia should instead focus on becoming a trilingual society.
“What we need is a new education direction that recognises the importance of Mandarin,” Rafizi said, adding that teachers trained in UEC-stream schools could play a critical role in meeting future language demands.
“To sideline them for narrow political reasons is to deny future generations the skills they need.”
What is the UEC?
The Unified Examination Certificate (UEC) is a standardised examination for students from Chinese independent secondary schools in Malaysia. It is administered by the United Chinese School Committees’ Association of Malaysia (Dong Zong) and is taught primarily in Mandarin.
While the UEC is recognised by many universities overseas and private institutions locally, it is not recognised for entry into Malaysia’s public universities. Currently, only 63 Chinese independent or hybrid secondary schools offer the UEC programme nationwide.
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