Cabinet review of BN-era policies to fend off voter backlash

SM Amin SM Amin Updated 4 years ago · Published on 12 Aug 2019 7:00AM · 7 Comments

Year five pupils in vernacular schools already learn about khat but parents are accusing the present government of creeping Islamisation. – The Malaysian Insight pic by Nazir Sufari, August 12, 2019.

THE cabinet has decided to vet policies and decisions made by ministries under the previous Barisan Nasional administration, said sources.

This new move was decided upon in the most recent cabinet meeting to avoid unnecessary criticism of Pakatan Harapan, following the fallout from the khat issue last week, they said.

“The cabinet felt it needs to review and reconsider the decisions taken by the previous administration, so that it can be ready to face arising issues and controversies.

“There are some decisions from the old government that, when implemented, have caused problems for this government, which means ministers are misunderstood and unfairly attacked.

“For example, people have criticised this PH government over khat despite its introduction being a decision by the old government.

“As such, from now, all decisions made by the previous government must be reviewed first by the cabinet before they are implemented,” said a source.

By doing so, the heat, when things go wrong, can be removed from a particular ministry or minister because the cabinet would have already decided how to handle the issue.

“By going through the cabinet again, we can look into the policy decision, its implementation, and to when and how it can be implemented without causing any pushback from the people,” he added.

The Education Ministry’s decision to introduce khat as part of the Bahasa Malaysia syllabus for year four pupils met with resistance, especially from vernacular education groups and members of political parties.

Education Minister Dr Maszlee Malik was caught completely unaware over the khat issue, with civil servants not briefing him because they were just following a timeline laid down in 2014. – The Malaysian Insight file pic, August 12, 2019.

They accused PH of Islamisation through khat lessons, a move denied by the government.

Subsequently, the government decided to make khat optional in vernacular schools, while reducing the number of lessons and not making it an examination subject.

However, education groups continue to object, despite the ministry’s assertion that the original decision was made in 2014 by the previous BN government.

The source also said that the ministry didn’t keep Education Minister Dr Maszlee Malik informed of the decision to implement khat because civil servants felt they were only following a timeline previously agreed upon.

“Maszlee didn’t know. As such, when the government was criticised, it became difficult for him to defend the move and respond. The khat issue turned into a race and religious issue.

“However, the civil servants are equally not to blame because they were only adhering to a stipulated timeline which was agreed upon by the BN government in 2014.” – August 12, 2019.

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Comments

  • First rule of leadership...everything is your fault.

    Posted 4 years ago by Leanburn Leanburn · Reply

  • excuses. just a bunch of incompetent
    ministers. period and tun is too stubborn to admit. by the way, when we are launching flying car?

    Posted 4 years ago by . . · Reply

  • The reluctance to retract the decision was too obvious for Mazlee...

    Posted 4 years ago by Tanahair Ku · Reply

  • No problems with PH. The problem is Bersatu.

    Posted 4 years ago by Raymond Chong · Reply

    • True, TDM did not fall short of agreeing the khat lesson should go through. He must wake up now to know that Islam is not for everybody.

      Posted 4 years ago by Tanahair Ku · Reply

  • Well, we didnt see Maszlee doing or saying anything to stop it. And surely any policy roll-out by the ex-government should have been halted when it lost. Seems ridiculous that BN policies could still be in rolled out according to the BN timeline. One wonders how many other BN policies will be implemented without the current Governments knowledge until it is out there. Does not make any sense. And whoever came up. with this new line of defence should be sacked.

    Posted 4 years ago by Sunita petrus · Reply

  • What took them so long to realise that decision of previous gomen ought to be reviewed for bad policy.

    Posted 4 years ago by Robert Phang · Reply