WOMEN’S Affairs and Welfare Minister Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail said an audit was in store for Permata, an early childhood educational programme set up by the former administration.

“We’ll continue with what is good,” said Dr Wan Azizah, who is also the first female Malaysian deputy prime minister, at a press conference on her first day of work at Putrajaya.

She said details of the audit would be announced later.

Dr Wan Azizah had earlier met with Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad at the Perdana Leadership Foundation before clocking in at 10am.

Permata is the brainchild of Rosmah Mansur, wife of former prime minister Najib Razak. The programme has been criticised for the lack of transparency in its operations, with the former government failing to reveal the cost of flying Rosmah to London last May to launch a Permata event, when asked by DAP lawmaker Teo Nie Ching in the Dewan Rakyat.

Yesterday, Rosmah, who was patron of Permata, made an appeal to Pakatan Harapan to maintain the programme.

It was reported in 2016 that more than 60% of those registered with the programme were children from rural areas and low-income families.

There are several pre-school programmes under Permata, which was established under the aegis of the Prime Minister’s Department.

Permata also runs a centre in Sentul to help parents bringing up children with autism. It is slated to open two more centres, in Malacca and Alor Setar, Kedah, this year. – May 22, 2018.