THE leader of a Sarawak political party today demanded that the police and Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) look seriously into the misappropriation of funds for education as alleged by former education minister Maszlee Malik.

Maszlee, who was education minister from May 2018 to January 2020 in the Pakatan Harapan federal government, recently shared a post on his social media account where he alleged that “millions, if not billions of ringgit in education funds have been misappropriated over the years”.

Maszlee also stated that it was unfathomable to him how some Barisan Nasional kleptocrats were willing to take billions of ringgit of Education Ministry funds for personal luxury when children in Sabah and Sarawak continued to suffer.

Voon Lee Shan, president of the pro-independence Parti Bumi Kenyalang, said the police and MACC should have no fear nor show any favour “to pin the culprits down and bring them to justice” as “poor quality education will produce poor quality lawyers, judges, doctors, engineers, economists and other professionals”.

He said the quality of education is the key to prosperity of the country, and students, if they want to excel in their studies, should not be deprived of facilities and proper environment.

He said teachers also need to be given support by the government and the public “so that they could find peace of mind to help the students excel in their studies”.

“We have too many dilapidated schools with poor facilities, especially in the rural areas and these have affected the lives of students and teachers,” he said.

“For students to excel in studies and for the teachers to focus on their tasks, Malaysia have spent billions of ringgit in past decades but could not find a solution to uplift the standard of education in this country.”

He said the reason for this is that the money that should have been used for education had been siphoned or misappropriated by “some crooked politicians and businesspeople”.

“Professionals produced by poor quality institutions can create chaotic situations affecting the security of the country and cause the collapse of the nation’s economy,” said Voon. – September 7, 2022.