PM gives five out of 10 for Cabinet ministers after one year

The five out of 10 score given by Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad on the performance of his Cabinet ministers over the past one year after Pakatan Harapan (PH) took over the government, is a fair assessment, said Education Minister Dr Maszlee Malik.

He said as an experienced leader, Dr Mahathir would understand more about the given score.

“It is a fair assessment from a person who has a lot of experience in the government because he is very conservative,” he said when asked to comment on Dr Mahathir’s assessment on the performance of the ministers, after the Education Ministry’s monthly assembly here yesterday.

The Prime Minister also reportedly said that most of his ministers were new and less experienced when they were first appointed to their respective posts but now they have learned a lot.

On Dr Mahathir’s admission that the matriculation programme was created as a ‘back door’ for the Malays to enter public institutions of higher learning (IPTA), Maszlee said the statement was referring to the early establishment of matriculation in 1999 to increase the number of Bumiputeras in the science stream at the public universities.

On a different note, Maszlee also praised civil servants saying they were the main pillar of national education reforms and had made Malaysia progress with high-quality public services.

He said the Education Ministry (MOE) was lucky to have many civil servants who were always highly regarded.

“MOE is very fortunate to have many civil servants from different service schemes including teachers, lecturers, administrative and diplomatic officers, financial officers and other executive groups who are talented, knowledgeable and have a brilliant work culture as well as highly regarded,” he said. - Bernama