COMMENT | By the time many Malaysian students sit for their examinations, they would have been dragged into arguments they never asked to inherit. Even before they were old enough to vote, their education had already become political property.

That is the tragedy of the Unified Examination Certificate (UEC) debate.

For decades, the UEC has moved in and out of public controversy like a recurring national ritual.

Politicians revive it when convenient. Nationalists warn of division. Supporters speak of recognition and equality. Social media fractures into predictable camps.

The same outrage returns, the same anxieties resurface, and the same unresolved arguments are recycled once more.

Meanwhile...