COMMENT In every general election since 1975 when the Malaysian Independent Chinese Secondary Schools' (MICSS) Unified Examination Certificate (UEC) was first run, the UEC has been an election issue. The 13th general election is no exception.

I should know about the UEC. When I first came back to Malaysia from my studies in the UK in 1983, I was contracted by the former chairperson of the United Chinese School Committees' Association of Malaysia (Dong Zong), Lim Fong Seng to enable the UEC to be recognised all over the world.