There will be no "U-turn" on the Pakatan Harapan government's plan to recognise the Unified Examination Certificate (UEC), Education Minister Maszlee Malik said today.

The only conflict in the matter is among the BN leaders, he said.

"The only one in conflict is BN, with (MCA deputy president) Wee Ka Siong and MCA saying something else, and (Umno Youth chief) Asyraf Wajdi Dusuki saying something else.

"We are going to make sure that in whatever policy decision we make, there will be no U-turn, there won't be any flip-flop, and it must be holistic," Maszlee told reporters when met in Putrajaya today.

Asked how long it would before the UEC is recognised, the minister quipped that it would not take "60 years like BN". 

Deputy Education Minister Teo Nie Ching on Sunday said she planned for the UEC to be recognised by the end of the year. 

Maszlee was then chastised for saying certain aspects had to be considered before the UEC is recognised. 

Teo clarified that this was to ensure that the status of Bahasa Malaysia was not threatened by recognising the independent Chinese school certificate. 

The Harapan manifesto pledged that the UEC can be used for entry into public higher education institutions "provided that applicants have a credit in Bahasa Melayu at the SPM level."

MCA has been pushing for Harapan to fulfil this promise. 

Asyraf, however, was reported as saying that the move would make the Malaysian education system disorderly as the government already recognised other certificates of the same level.

The UEC, which is issued to graduates of Chinese independent high schools, is currently recognised by local private higher education institutions and many universities overseas, as well as the Sarawak government.

The Malacca government had recently announced it will begin recognising the UEC as a formal qualification for entry into state civil service.