Get your act together first

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By Stephen Ng
I find it amusing that Education Minister, Maszlee Malik has offered to meet up with Malaysiakini’s columnist FA Abdul.

He has even suggested that the meeting be broadcast “live” on Facebook, but I do not think FA Abdul needs that kind of publicity when the spotlight should be on the minister himself.

I would like to turn the table around on Maszlee. If he is unable to accept criticisms and learn from public comments, he has indeed failed the test of humility.

I, for one, wanted to write about the cashless payment system in schools but due to work commitment, I dropped the idea. I think this is the last thing any minister should spend his time on.

My children only gets RM2 to RM3 a day. Theft is only a minor problem, and to help them, I teach them to keep the money in a safe place. What’s the problem?

One other reason I did not write is because I have become immune to yet another of Maszlee’s “out of the blue” ideas. Did he not previously suggest that petrol pump stations be allowed to be set up on university ground?

Was he not the one who suggested swimming as an extra-curricular activity for children yet, when a boy, Nicholas Chong Zhen Yi drowned in a pool in Sabah, he kept very quiet about it?

I wonder how many months of feasibility study have been undertaken before he implemented the black shoes, because several months after the announcement was made, he could not even tell us what colour of socks the children should wear with their black shoes!

If Maszlee has all the time in the world to meet FA Abdul, he should utilise it fully to meet up with parent groups to understand the real issues on the ground.

As I understand it, a parent group has sought for a meeting with Maszlee since end of last year. Instead of meeting them, Maszlee only assigned Shahrul Aman Saari, his press officer, to meet them.

The ministry is plagued with a number of issues that the one-year-old minister is incapable of solving; therefore, I am inclined to think that he will not be able to revamp our education policy and implement it successfully on the ground level.

STEPHEN NG is an ordinary citizen with an avid interest in following political developments in the country since 2008. After May 9, 2018, he is now involved in contributing ideas towards rebuilding of the nation.


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