COMMENT | Every so often, almost seasonally, issues crop up in the Malaysian political scene that would signal that the political parties and politicians are gearing up for an election.

One of those issues is the Unified Examination Certificate (UEC), which is a secondary Mandarin-oriented educational track which is not recognised officially by the government or public universities.

It looks like this is the season when it has come back. Before Anwar Ibrahim became prime minister, he mentioned in 2018 that the country’s recognition of the certificate would not mean undermining the importance of Bahasa Melayu.

Now, the DAP, which is a significant component of Anwar’s government, wants to re-push the agenda of recognising the UEC.

Why is this issue causing such big drama? To be honest, the UEC is...