The Cabinet's decision yesterday to reverse the Education Ministry's ruling made last year that barred private universities and colleges from recognising the exams certificates produced by Chinese independent high schools did not go far enough, said a number of NGOs and an opposition leader.

According to DAP chairman Lim Kit Siang, the Independent High School Unified Exam Certificate issue has not been fully resolved despite Education Minister Musa Mohamad's announcement that the government had reversed his ministry's decision.

He said that the certificate should be fully recognised by the government as one of the academic qualifications for entry into all universities and colleges, the public service and teaching academies.

While the exam certificate is accepted by over 400 universities and private colleges worldwide, it is not officially recognised by local public universities.

Because of this, most graduates had headed for Taiwan and Singapore for further studies, but in recent years, many students turned to local private colleges which had recognised the certificate.

But last June, the Education Ministry ruled that all private colleges could only recruit students with "qualifications accepted by the Malaysian government".

The government's about-turn came after a protest by Chinese education movement Dong Jiao Zhong that the certificate's non-recognition could affect the future of some 55,000 students enrolled at 60 independent Chinese schools nationwide.

"Barisan Nasional leaders are prepared to praise sky-high Chinese primary and independent secondary schools just to woo Chinese votes, but the government has never been prepared to change its policy to fully integrate Chinese education into the mainstream of national education policy," Lim said in a statement to malaysiakini today.

"It is unbelievable that the MCA leadership, which traditionally has a MCA deputy education minister, is unaware of such a directive, which only goes to prove their impotence, as further illustrated by the recent controversy over the undemocratic and arbitrary ban of a Chinese New Year exhibition by the Universiti Technology Malaysia authorities," he added.

Lim said that the swift reaction of the Cabinet on this issue was simply due to the Sanggang by-election with polling fixed for this Saturday.

Meanwhile, a group of nine youth and non-governmental organisations today also urged the government to fully recognise the Unified Exam Certificate given that the examination is accepted by universities around the world, including the National University of Singapore.

In a press statement released today, the group said that the contribution and achievement of Chinese independent school students were indisputable.

"Over the last 50 years, the Chinese education system has contributed more than 30,000 trained personnel into the development of Malaysia in various fields," it said.

The group, which included the New Era College Students' Union and Graduates' Representatives, Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall Youth Section, and Suaram, also urged the Parliament to review the 1996 Education Act, and to restore mother-tongue education of different races.