THE Pakatan Harapan government must have the magnanimity to accept dissent, said deputy education minister Teo Nie Cheng.

“If you are in government, you must be prepared to be criticised. There is no policy that will please everyone.

“As the government, you must have the magnanimity to accept criticisms. You must accept check and balance,” said Teo in an interview with The Malaysian Insight on a Facebook Live, tonight.

She was responding to a question on how she felt to be on the receiving end of strong reproval in her first two weeks in office.

Teo has come under fire from Malay nationalists for her promise to get government recognition for the United Examination Certificate (UEC) by year end.

“To be critical is not the privilege of the opposition. The backbenchers should adopt the same attitude, so that the government of the day does not think it has a stranglehold on the backbenchers,” said the Kulai MP. 

The third-term federal lawmaker has criticised every education minister in the Dewan Rakyat in the past decade.

Teo, who is still learning the ropes in her new role in government, said she never thought she would see a change in government within a decade of joining politics.

“When I joined DAP in 2008, I was prepared to lose. Nobody thought Serdang was a winnable seat,” said Teo, who won Serdang by 20,235 votes amid the 2008 political tsunami.

She moved south to Johor and wrestled Kulai from BN in 2013, and was re-elected in Kulai on May 9.

As the deputy education minister, Teo hopes improve the standard of education as well as access to education for special needs children.

“The United Nations estimates that 10% of the population have special needs. We want these children to be able to adapt to society, so that they don’t have to be 100% dependent on others when they grow up,” said Teo.

As a mother of three young children, she is determined to improve the quality of daycares and nurseries that double up as preschools.

“A lot of working mothers leave the workforce because they cannot find a workplace that accommodates their needs (for a daycare for their children).” – July 12, 2018.