Free education in Pakatan manifesto a ‘recycled effort’
KUALA LUMPUR: Higher Education Minister Datuk Seri Idris Jusoh has labelled Pakatan Harapan’s manifesto, which is set to be announced today, as a “recycled effort” of past manifesto pledges, and full of empty promises.
Idris said the Pakatan should provide free education in the states it administered before promising free education in its manifesto for the 14th General Election (GE14).
“The only thing the opposition is good at is opposing and creating false promises.
“Speaking of (false promises) they couldn’t even deliver on their past promises, yet, they have the audacity to make new ones.
“Perhaps, they will repeat their infamous pledge of providing free education.
“If this is the case, we want them to implement that in Selangor first,” he said after the University-Industrial Dialogue session here on Tuesday.
Idris, who is an Umno Supreme Council member, was asked to comment on one of the opposition’s predicted manifesto pledges, which is to provide free education if it wins GE14.
Idris said the Barisan Nasional government had consistently provided affordable education for the people, and had not increased education costs in the last 20 years.
He said students paid only five to 10 per cent of what it would actually cost for education.
“A medical student pays RM15,000 to RM18,000 for five years of studies compared with the total cost of RM300,000.
“Those keen on engineering courses are expected to pay less than 10 per cent of the total cost, while tuition fees for places like Universiti Teknologi Mara are only RM200.”
He said although tuition fees were minimal, the government remained dedicated to providing world-class education for the people.