By Lian Cheng
KUCHING, Jan 3: State Reform Party (Star) said it was honourable for Education Minister Dr Maszlee Malik to step down voluntarily, knowing that his performance had not met the expectations of the people.
Its president Lina Soo said Maszlee’s resignation was inevitable as he had made too many mistakes and caused Malaysia’s education to regress.
“Maszlee had made too many blunders to anger parents, and to push our education further backwards into the abyss, when it is well known that Malaysia’s education is below par for a developing country.
“It is honourable of him to step down when he knows his performance was not up to mark. We wish him the best in his future undertakings,” Soo told DayakDaily.
She said the Ministry of Education was an important portfolio as school grounds mould the young minds who will be entrusted the future of the nation.
“For an already fractious nation divided by race and religion politics, it sets a dangerous precedent to bring religion into schools.
“We move on. We hope the next education minister will be able to push for change to bring our education standards to developed status,” said Soo.
Maszlee has been courting controversy ever since he stepped up as Education Minister including calling religious teachers to make Sarawak and Sabah their “medan dakwah” (proselytisation fields) and introducing Jawi to vernacular schools.
Maszlee resigned as the education minister effective today, 20 months after he was appointed by Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
He said he surrendered his post “in the spirit of discipline and loyalty to the government and the party”.
In a statement, Dr Mahathir confirmed receiving the resignation letter.
Hours after Maszlee’s quitting, however, an online petition was launched to reinstate him, with over 100,000 signatures in support of the call. —DayakDaily
