The government may consider recognising the Independent Chinese Secondary Schools' (MICSS) Unified Examination Certificate (UEC) on two conditions, said Malaysian Federation of Chinese Association (Hua Zong) president Pheng Ying Huan.

One of the conditions is for students to score at least a credit in Bahasa Malaysia in the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) examination, said Pheng following a 40-minute dialogue session yesterday with Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak.

"(The other is) to add more local content in History and Geography subjects in the UEC syllabus," he added.

Meanwhile, Hua Zong deputy president Cheng Lai Hock said the government felt both History and Geography subjects in the UEC lacked local content and this needed to be strengthened to instil patriotism.

Following yesterday's meeting with the premier, Pheng said he will organise a dialogue with stakeholders, namely the Education Ministry, the United Chinese Schools Committees Association of Malaysia (Dong Zong) and the United Chinese School Teachers Association (Jiao Zong) soon to discuss the issue further.

"I don't know how long it will take (to recognise UEC), but this is a good start," he said.

No decision made, says PM's office

Despite repeated calls from Chinese NGOs and political parties from both sides of the political divide, the government has doggedly refused to recognise the UEC, an examination conducted by Chinese high schools in Malaysia.

The certificate is recognised as an entrance qualification to many universities internationally, including Taiwan, Singapore, Australia and Hong Kong.

Meanwhile, Pheng brushed off the allegation that the dialogue was a ploy by Najib to win Chinese support in the coming general election.

Instead, he said the Hua Zong had met Najib before to discuss issues relating to the Chinese community.

The Hua Zong has raised eight issues with Najib during the dialogue, which include reducing the traffic summons in the Automatic Enforcement System and the construction of Chinese primary schools.