ONE would expect Prof Mohd Ridhuan Tee Abdullah to better function as the bridge between the Chinese guests and their Malay hosts given his acute advantage of sharing the same faith as the latter.
Instead, day in day out, the Muslim convert preacher would harp tirelessly about the “betrayal” of his own race which is a valid assumption given that his new-found Muslim brethren have insisted that embracing Islam does not alter a person’s ethical origin.
Crudely put it, if the rightist fraternity which he has so comfortably associated himself with or assimilated into pointed the finger at someone from his race as a pendatang (immigrant), what makes him so sure that he would not be regarded as one himself.
Therefore, the former Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin (UniSZA) professor’s latest bashing of the Unified Examination Certificate (UEC) proponents to prove their claim that UEC holders are fluent in Bahasa Melayu (BM) does indeed leave a bad taste on his academical reputation.
Already bad enough that he has incessantly pick a bone with people from his ancestral background by berating them as “kafir harbi” (“hostile infidel” or “belligerent non-Muslim”), at least one would expect the Muafakat Nasional deputy president to offer a viable solution instead belittling someone else’s self-value as “sembaing kari” (bragging)
Recount that Ridhuan had previously challenged UEC school-leavers to come forward to be tested for their ability to speak BM correctly – including mastery of standard grammar and vocabulary – rather than simply claiming to be fluent.
This was in light of Dong Zong’s claim in December 2025 that more than 96% of UEC candidates passed their 2025 SPM-level BM wuth high passing rate consistency over the past three years – 2022 (97.38%); 2023 (97.11%) and 2924 (96.65%).
This is when countered that the BM syllabus in SJKC (government-aided Chinese schools) has long been set at a lower level with the Year Six standard allegedly only equivalent to Year Three or Four standard in SK (national primary school).
In his latest tirade, Ridhuan was training his guns on the statement by DAP secretary-general Anthony Loke Siew Fook who reasoned that UEC has not overshadowed Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) given that more than 80% of UEC candidates also sat for the SPM examination, including 9,580 out of 10,944 students last year.
“UEC pupils also sit for the SPM,” he told the Pakatan Harapan (PH) Convention 2026 in Johor Bahru over the weekend (May 17).
The UEC is equivalent to the A-Level qualification and is used as an entry qualification for universities but our basic requirement still requires candidates to possess an SPM certificate with at least a credit in BM and a pass in History.”
“This is a very clear requirement. I salute Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim for having the courage to address and resolve issues that have dragged on for decades whereas previous prime ministers didn’t dare to act despite making such promises in their manifestos.
This was when Loke who is the PH deputy chairman assured that DAP would continue to uphold BM as the national language and would never undermine its importance within the national education system.
“BM will remain our national language forever. We want Malaysians to master various languages, including Malay, Chinese, English, Tamil and even Arabic. This is the philosophy of the Madani Government,” added the Transport Minister.
Well, doubts will continue to linger in Ridhuan’s mind as a disruptor in the quest to build a cordial Malay-Chinese rapport because what is certain is that he sees his own race as “an insincere, unpatriotic bunch” whose ulterior motive is nothing more than “robbing’ the Malay natives of their rights and privileges”. – May 20, 2026
Main image credit: TV Pertiwi
