“Those who lack the courage will always find a philosophy to justify it.”

– Albert Camus

COMMENT | Bersatu member and former Umno stalwart Rais Yatim claims that the United Examination Certificate (UEC) must be integrated with SPM and STPM examinations for the sake of national unity.

An earlier comment on the predictable waffling of the Pakatan Harapan regime as to why the cabinet could not recognise the UEC as per their election manifesto produced this gem – it "touches on the core of civilisation, the core of education and the core of our country's values."

This is not a piece about recognising the UEC. As far as I am concerned, the continuing effort to frustrate recognition of the certificate is further evidence that the ketuanan ideology means the negation of non-Malay culture. The only difference is that in the ‘New Malaysia,’ other strategies are employed to hoodwink people into thinking that there are bigger issues to think about.

To be honest, Rais’ statement has been bugging me ever since I read it. It all boils down to his use of the word “our.” Here is a former member of a race-based party who joined another race-based party talking about shared values.

On loop

It is the same reason why I was extremely pissed off when Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng cavalierly claimed that he was “Malaysian” in that press conference when asked how he felt about being a “Chinese” finance minister, while standing next to the Bersatu grand poohbah....