KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 17 (Sin Chew Daily) — Finance minister Lim Guan Eng said he believed prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad would seriously consider the issue of Unified Examination Certificate (UEC) recognition, now that he is the acting education minister.

"Since the allocations for independent high schools have now been institutionalised, this is a natural development. As for the election promises, the government knows what to do."

Lim also said the government would honour its election pledges, including the recognition of UEC certificate.

"The former education minister said he needed time to handle this issue to give the Malays more faith in UEC.

"We now have a new acting education minister and I believe he will seriously look into the issue to make sure all our election pledges are fulfilled."