KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 20 — Education Minister Datuk Mahdzir Khalid must state his involvement in the alleged inclusion of politically-driven questions in this year’s SPM Moral examination, DAP’s Lim Kit Siang said today.

The DAP parliamentary leader said the minister is obliged to explain if he or officers from his ministry were responsible such action, and whether punitive action would be taken over the test that caused uproar among students and parents.

“The blatant attempt to brainwash students with politically-loaded questions in the SPM Moral Education paper is most reprehensible and must be condemned in the strongest possible terms, especially as it involved a not-so-subtle attempt to tell lies and demonise protest gatherings as anti-government and anti- national, even suggesting that those who participate in them are not high-minded idealists but ‘mercenaries’,” Lim said in a statement today.

“Why vilify civil society groups as anti-government and anti-national, as well as subtly spreading lies and falsehoods,  when moral education should inculcate students with good virtues instead of being ‘brainwashing’ courses?”

Lim pointed out that this was the second controversy involving Mahdzir’s ministry since the latter took over from Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin who was removed in the July Cabinet reshuffle, the other being the disappearance of seven Orang Asli students in Kelantan.

The Gelang Patah MP added that claims of the “ham-fisted” attempt to nurture a “nation of sheep” arose even as the Orang Asli incident was yet to be resolved.

“Even up to now, Mahdzir has not been able to restore the confidence of the Orang Asli people in Gua Musang in the education system as more than 50 per cent of the Orang Asli parents have refused to send their children back to the school because of their safety concerns especially in Kampung Penad, Gawin, Simpor and Rekom,” he said.

Yesterday, Malay Mail Online reported students as complaining that the SPM Moral examination included political questions, including one depicting a teenager encountering a promotional poster for an anti-government rally in which participants would receive RM100, and inviting a friend to join in.

Some noted the irony in a Moral paper requiring students to provide disingenuous answers if their personal beliefs did not align with the politics of those preparing the examination.

Malay Mail Online was unable to verify the contents of the SPM Moral paper as the examination is “closed”, which means students are not allowed to take home the question sheets.

The questions had generated controversy on Twitter and other social media platforms since earlier this week.

Parents and education lobby groups complained over the possibility that SPM examinees were forced to answer politically-skewed questions, saying the classroom is not the place for politics.

Deputy Education Minister P. Kamalanathan gave his assurance that he would issue a statement after checking on the allegation with ministry officials.