Hishamuddin had accused Tee Keat of trying to be a hero of the Chinese community by making false allegations against Education Ministry officials of the malpractices of two schools in Muar, SJK© Kung Yu where RM 30,000 was spent for value of work done for RM3,000 and in SJK© Ai Hwa where RM20,000 was spent for value of work done for  RM 2,000. Subsequently Tee Keat was reprimanded for breaking the Cabinet’s directive against interfering in another Ministry’s work when he was simply highlighting corrupt malpractices in the construction work on the two Chinese primary schools.

However following the visit by Works Minister Datuk S Samy Vellu and Ka Ting on 18.9.2006 to the two schools, the allegations by Tee Keat were found to be true. Some MCA members told me that they harboured hope that Ka Ting and 3 other MCA Ministers would get Cabinet to restore justice by at least removing the Cabinet reprimand and an apology against Tee Keat. They were confident that at least Tee Keat would be vindicated by Cabinet but conceded that Ka Ting would not dare to reprimand both Hishamuddin and Mustapa.

Clearly MCA members thought too highly of Ka Ting. Not only was there no apology, there was no withdrawal of the Cabinet reprimand against Tee Keat. DAP demands a full explanation by Ka Ting whether he and the other 3 MCA Ministers raised the issue of giving justice to Tee Keat in Cabinet. If he did not do so, then Ka Ting should explain why he failed to uphold truth and justice. The Chinese community can see that MCA leaders such as Deputy Education Minister Datuk Hon Choon Kim did not support Tee Keat but was siding with Hishamuddin.

The Cabinet’s failure to withdraw the reprimand against Tee Keat is no different from continuing its collective punishment on the whistle-blower. How can there be public confidence in Najib’s assurances that the Cabinet is serious, will not cover up such weaknesses or abuses when the whistle-blower is punished earlier before the culprits, who remain unpunished?

Najib should also not only restrict the Cabinet probe to PWD but also should widen it to include the Education Ministry to probe as to why they it did not know such corrupt malpractices were happening in schools. Hishamuddin can not disclaim responsibility by pushing it to the Works Ministry because the Education Ministry should know of problems happening in schools.

Hishamuddin’s attitude is just like parents who do not know their children are being abused despite having bruises over their children’s body and require outsiders to point it to them. And instead of thanking the outsiders for pointing it out, punish the outsiders for “gross interference in their family’s affairs” when the parents should be punishing the real abusers.

Such “ostrich in the sand” approach by Hishamuddin is most irresponsible and incompetent because it highlights the failure of performance audit and monitoring mechanism within his Ministry. Instead of non-Education Ministry people like the school’s Board of Directors or Tee Keat highlighting such malpractices, the Education Ministry should be the first to uncover such scandals.

Justice should be given not only to redeem both Tee Keat and the Chinese community but also meted out severely against Hishamuddin and Mustapa for wronging Tee Keat as well as trying to hide or cover-up weaknesses in the Education Ministery that allow such abuses to continue by irresponsible contractors.

Najib Tun Razak should therefore not only direct the Public Works Department (PWD) to probe abuse of funds given to SJK© Kung Yu In Muar but also the Education Ministry to probe the breakdown in its performance audit and monitoring mechanism until it knew about such abuses only after it was exposed by the school’s board of directors