I wonder why the MCA Deputy President, Datuk Seri Wee Ka Siong is so impatient as to admit that he is part of the Najib Razak propaganda and cybertrooper outfit to paint Pakatan Harapan Ministers in the worst possible light to bring about the downfall of the Pakatan Harapan Federal Government before the 15th General Election in 2023?
Two days ago on Tuesday, 16th October 2018, I issued a statement advising the Education Minister, Maszlee Malik to stop talking about socks and shoes so as not to fall into the trap of former Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak and UMNO propagandists and cybertroopers to project the image that he is a very mediocre Minister who has very limited vision and objectives in the transformation of education in the country and instead prove that he is a better Education Minister than Najib himself.
The first to respond to my statement was not Najib or any of his UMNO propagandists, but Wee Ka Siong, when I had not even thought of him or referred to the MCA!
What could make Wee “confessing without being beaten”? Clearly, he is suffering from a “guilty conscience” of being part of Najib propagandist and cybertrooper outfit although it is over five months since the 14th General Election where UMNO/BN was toppled from Putrajaya.
I acknowledge that habits die hard – and having been part of Najib and UMNO propaganda and cybertrooper outfit for decades, it is difficult for Wee and the MCA leaders to cut the umbilical cord with UMNO and act independently from the wishes and interests of UMNO leaders.
In his FaceBook posting in response to my statement, Wee asked whether DAP wants the public at large to be silent on all issues including the third national car, the Octoberfest, and the proposed abolition of death penalty.
Wee and MCA leaders are very mistaken. Nobody is asking them to shut up. They should speak up and don’t be silent on all issues which concern Malaysians if they want to play their new role as a constructive and responsible opposition but they must not continue with their past irresponsible tactics of making wild and baseless allegations against their political opponents in Pakatan Harapan.
Wee, who is contesting for the post of MCA President in the MCA national elections on Nov. 4, said MCA should discuss its stand on Barisan Nasional during its upcoming Annual General Assembly on Dec. 2, 2018.
Former MCA President, Datuk Dr. Chua Soi Leok had in fact called on all former MCA ministers and deputy ministers not to contest in the upcoming MCA party elections.
However, Wee, like the top UMNO leadership, is in deep denial, refusing to admit to the international infamy of the 1MDB scandal, a global kleptocracy and kakistocracy which the Najib Cabinet and government had brought to Malaysia before the 14th General Election.
Wee, like the rest of the MCA and UMNO leadership, just cannot understand that all former Ministers and deputy ministers of the Najib government, who had been complicit in the 1MDB scandal, must repent first for directly or indirectly aiding and abetting Najib Razak in the monstrous 1MDB scandal, before standing for any new party elections.
Wee is trying to take the easy way out – by demonising and bashing Pakatan Harapan Ministers and leaders like Maszlee.
Recently, Khazanah Research Institute (KRI) came out with a shocking report, “The State of Households 2018: Different Realities”, that said that Malaysians receiving 12 years of schooling only receive only nine years’ worth of schooling after adjusting for education quality.
The report stressed that Malaysia needs to improve the quality of its education if it wants to become a high-income nation with a sound knowledge-based economy and that the state of human capital development in the country – of which 20% of government expenditure goes to education – “has plenty of room for improvement”.
The report said: “The central issue of generating high-quality human capital in this country is an important one, as the transition to a high-income nation requires human capital levels that continuously improve productivity, sustain growth and are able to create or utilise technological advancements rather than being substituted by it.”
Who is responsible for this deplorable state of education in Malaysia?
Undoubtedly, it must be borne by the UMNO/BN Government, and in particular the Najib premiership from 2009 to 2018!
This was the reason for the attempt by the Najib propagandists and cybertroopers – which include Wee and MCA leaders – to divert attention from this shocking state of educational affairs by taking the offensive to demonise and bash the Education Minister, Maszlee Malik, for being concerned with trivial matters like socks and shoes.
In his interview with TV3 yesterday, Maszlee has rightly pointed out his three main challenges as Education Minister – to increase English proficiency among youth, use science and technology to help learning and instil good values in pupils.
As Maszlee rightly said, it will take time before changes in these three areas in the education system can be seen.
Maszlee was conscious that he had big shoes to fill as Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad was supposed to take on the education portfolio.
It is important for the building of a “New Malaysia” that the country undergoes an educational transformation, which calls fore careful planning and execution.
The last thing the country needs is for such an educational transformation to be diverted and sabotaged because of the success of Najib’s propaganda and cybertrooper outfit to bash, demonise and trivialise Maszlee as Education Minister, who has in fact the potential to be one of the country’s best Education Ministers.
(Media Statement by DAP MP for Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang in Parliament on Thursday, 18th October 2018)