Teachers must have approval to be involved in politics
KUCHING: Teachers in grades DG41 to DG48 are permitted to engage in politics provided they have obtained official approval from the Ministry of Education's secretary-general.
Public Service Department director-general Tan Sri Zainal Rahim Seman said this was clearly stated in the Service Circular No.9/2010 which also specified certain conditions such as prohibiting education officers holding administrative posts from being involved in politics or holding political post due to conflict of interest arising from holding the two posts.
“We don't want any administrative rules in the department to become political materials and we also do not want any contradiction in terms of the officers' priority between their duties and political matters.
“So it has become customary in terms of regulation, that whoever violates those rules, action will be taken on him or her as a form of regulation,” he told a press conference after attending the ‘Wacana Jelajah Transformasi Nasional (TN50)' programme organised by Congress of Unions of Employees in the Public and Civil Service (Cuepacs) which was at the old State Legislative Assembly Complex here yesterday.
Also present were Cuepacs president Datuk Azih Muda and State Secretary Tan Sri Datuk Amar Morshidi Abdul Ghani.
Issues concerning the involvement of teachers in politics have been in the limelight of late following a recent national news report which claimed that Education Minister Datuk Seri Mahdzir Khalid had warned teachers and Ministry of Education officers not to support the opposition.
The report, which was picked up by news portals, also claimed that Mahdzir had told the teachers and officers that disciplinary action would be taken against them if they supported the opposition and that they were also barred from joining any opposition party or criticising the government.
Azih, when asked to comment on this, said Mahdzir's statement had been taken out of context.
“I know Datuk Seri Mahdzir and believe that he was misinterpreted. I'm confident he didn't utter such statement and that is why Cuepacs did not issue any statement when news on this first broke.”
He opined that the question of regulations and politics were two different matters, where if an officer violated a rule in the government administration, action would be taken under certain regulation but when taking other approaches into consideration such as politics, this was beyond the rules.
“The Ministry of Education is a big ministry in the government and it is crucial for them to ensure that our younger generation has a bright future ahead. So it is impossible for a minister to make such a statement,” he stressed.
On a related matter, Azih pointed out that civil servants are allowed to be involved in politics but must first obtain permission from their head of department.