Dr M's 5 out of 10 score a fair assessment, says Dr Maszlee

Dr Maszlee reminded universities to always support the students as long as it did not contravene the law or university regulations.

PUTRAJAYA (Bernama): 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 since Pakatan Harapan (PH) took over the government is a fair assessment, says 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 after the Education Ministry's monthly assembly here Tuesday (May 7).

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 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.

“The 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