KUALA LUMPUR – Datuk Seri Shahidan Kassim (Arau-PN) has ticked off several government lawmakers after alleging that several Umno members in government are against DAP – and vice versa – despite both parties being in the unity government.
His statement was prompted by a PKR member who yesterday urged the Education Ministry to set up a committee to monitor anti-establishment teachers.
“A (PKR) delegate suddenly instructs teachers to support the government.
“There are Umno (members) in government who support it, but do not want DAP. There are DAP (members) who support the government but do not want Umno. That is the government now – problematic,” said Shahidan during the committee-level Supply Bill 2024 debate for the Education Ministry in the Dewan Rakyat today.
The claim prompted Howard Lee (Ipoh Timor-PH) to demand Shahidan to “name the MPs”.
Subsequently, Shahidan said the extensive list of 1.6 million civil servants would be too long and would take a day to list them all.
He added that if Perikatan Nasional (PN) were in power, it would provide protection and assistance to all teachers, irrespective of their political beliefs.
He also attempted to make a similar pledge for civil servants before being interjected by Azli Yusof (Shah Alam-PH), who described him as “penglipur lara” (storyteller).
Yesterday, Johor PKR delegate Harayati Abu Nair had called on the Education Ministry to create a committee to monitor anti-establishment educators during her debate at the party’s national congress.
Following a “worrying” trend of unsupportive teachers, she said the committee could identify any issues which led them to feel as such, so that the problems could be rectified and refined.
Earlier today, Mohd Hasnizan Harun (Hulu Selangor-PN) urged the government against approving the suggestion, as it was uncivilised and contradicted the country’s democratic nature. – November 27, 2023