JANUARY 7 — My initial response to Maszlee Malik’s resignation — non-issue, since there were resignations of deputy prime ministers and even a sacking.
It is a given that the prime minister (PM) has the discretion to advise or dismiss ministers based on ministerial performance or other reasons. Is it that Maszlee had performed so badly that he was advised to resign?
He was attacked by a former senior minister. Apart from Dong Zong, members from a component party in Pakatan Harapan (PH) also joined the salvo. It is difficult when your partner starts shooting publicly. Maybe, the biggest salvo was from an ex-Council of Eminent Persons (CEP) who said Malaysia has failed because the government, through the education ministry, has not gotten its priorities right.
Earlier last year, there was the matriculation quota issue. The year before, he stood his ground after repeated calls and a cabinet decision to relinquish the IIUM presidency. There was also issue on Sijil Peperiksaan Bersepadu (UEC) and the latest is khat. The latter was viewed negatively by Chinese and Tamil education groups. Actually, the proposal for khat was made in 2015.
In January 2017, he published a paper, “Kafir Harbi in Malaysia: Another Path to Polarisation” at the Yusof Ishak Institute. He concluded that Kafir Harbi was a term used in the past to demonise DAP for political reasons. Mutual respect and recognition of other believers and their beliefs should be kept sacred and sine qua non to ensure a harmonious and peaceful world community.
Did he make a 180 degree turn on mutual respect?
An article showed, on several occasions, Maszlee did not heed cabinet directives and did not listen to advice such as the khat issue, free internet service for schools and free breakfast programme. He also did not want to split the education and higher education portfolios.
If it is true, why did he not heed the cabinet, why did he not listen to advice and why did he not want to split the education portfolios?
The cabinet is the highest policy-making body under the democratic ruling system. Formulation and implementation of policies are at ministerial level. I think it is at this level he formulated policies that are not in tandem with the wants of the cabinet.
It does not matter whether you received 100,000 signatures within one hour in an online petition to support you or the National Union of Teaching Profession (NUTP) supported you or the Parent Action Group viewed your resignation as “unfortunate”, the boss felt it was time for you to go.
You may have improved internet connectivity, set up an Independent Integrity Committee (ICC) to investigate fraud and malpractices, a free school breakfast programme, abolished examinations in Year One to Three, implemented a streamless school system, allowing all stateless and undocumented children to enrol in schools, thousands of dilapidated schools and laboratories are now safe and operational and more universities listed in the QS-World Universities Ranking (WUR) 2020 and QS Asia 2020.
You may have started to look at teacher’s extraneous workload, dismantle the much-abused University and University Colleges Act (UUCA), to make Technical and Vocational Education and Training more “industry-led”, education for disabled persons and others, but this is not good enough for Malaysia Baharu.
Only the black shoe and khat issues grabbed the news headlines. But I am encouraged that our Raja Permaisuri Agong has started to use Jawi.
What the powerful vocal groups want are more important than making sure the base or foundation is solid. It does not count whether the children are under-nourished but they must produce results. It does not matter whether the internet connectivity is at a snail’s pace and at an exorbitant cost as long as the contractor can carry on with the job.
What about the Malaysia Education Blueprint 2013-2025? There were 11 “shifts” to transform the system. Shift 2 was to ensure every child is proficient in Bahasa Malaysia and English language. Shift 3 was to develop values-driven Malaysians by strengthening Islamic and Moral education and civics elements. Shift 7 was to leverage ICT to scale up quality learning and for distance and self-paced learning to expand access to high-quality teaching regardless of location or student skill level.
What was your contribution towards the above compared to the previous ministers?
Your advisers may have miscalculated the power of the cabinet and the boss. And the ICC may have created enemies.
The latest news suggested that your attempt to reopen a Saudi Arabian-backed “anti-terrorism” centre as the “straw that broke the camel’s back” which led you to return the post to “ayahanda”.
So, why did you do what you did?
Many had expressed regret that the education system had been dictated by politics instead of real education issues.
For that matter, democracy is not really government by the people (supreme power) or rule of the majority. Also, there is no inherent link between the people and the cabinet or the government.
“Politics is the art of the possible, the attainable — the art of the next best.” — Otto von Bismarck.
What say you?
* This is the personal opinion of the writer and does not necessarily represent the views of Malay Mail.
