Media statement by Lim Kit Siang in Kuala Lumpur on Friday, 8^th June 2012: 

Lifting of PTPTN loan freeze for Unisel and Kuis students welcomed but will Muhyiddin and Khaled have the decency to apologise for such bullying and cbt tactics?

The lifting of the National Higher Education Fund (PTPTN) loan freeze for Universiti Selangor (Unisel) and Selangor International Islamic University College (Kuis) students is most welcome as it is downright wrong, immoral and criminal and should never have been imposed in the first place by a government which claims to live by the slogan of “People First, Performance Now”!

The question however is whether the Deputy Prime Minister and Education Minister, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin and the Higher Education Minister, Datuk Seri Khaled Nordin would have the decency to apologise for such bullying and criminal breach of trust (cbt) tactics as they had publicly endorsed the unethical, vindictive and vengeful PTPTN freeze of loans to Unisel and Kuis students.

This is a pertinent question as it is only yesterday that the Information, Communication and Culture Minister Datuk Seri Rais Yatim launched his Ministry’s 1Malaysia moral guide extolling 21 moral values such as patience, discipline, respect, meritocracy, cleanliness, integrity, humility, courtesy, and loyalty.

Or is Rais’ 1Malaysia moral guide as stillborn as other 1Malaysia gimmicry, or are the Barisan Nasional Ministers and leaders to be exempt from these 21 moral values as they are only meant for the common Malaysian populace?

I reiterate that the attempt to freeze the PTPTN loans to Unisel and Kuis students is completely unthinkable and unforgivable as it is reflective of a ruling coalition which had been too long in power for over five decades and has completely forgotten the third Prime Minister, Tun Husseins Onn’s most important advice – that power is a public trust that must never be abused in any form!

How can Muhyiddin and Khaled behave as if public funds in PTPTF are like their grandfather’s monies which they could spend as they like, including victimising and penalising Unisel and Kuis students by turning them into scapegoats in the power play by Umno/Barisan Nasional in its desperate attempt to wrest back the Selangor state government from Pakatan Rakyat?

This is most undemocratic, unethical, immoral and unconscionable!

But this PTPTN/Unisel fiasco is only the latest idiocy of the Najib’s administration had recently been plagued by one idiocy after another.

Recent idiocies include:

• The fiasco of the RM24,200 bid for WWW15 plate number for the Health Minister, Datuk Liow Tiong Lai, which the Transport Minister, Datuk Kong Cho Ha announced ten days later as “for free”. Kong’s two-year tenure as Transporft Minister will now be remembered for the WWW15 fiasco and nothing else.

• The blatant abuse of power by the Minister for Domestic Trade, Co-operatives and Consumerism Datuk Ismail Sabri Yaakob exempting Datuk Isa Samad from Koperasi Permodalan Felda (KPF) by-laws to enable him to become KPF Chairman, although Isa had been found guilty of corruption and money politics in UMNO.

• The high-powered demonization campaign against the 200,000 Malaysians regardless of race, religion, class, region, age or gender who gathered peacefully in Kuala Lumpur in support of the Bersih 3.0 rally for a clean election. The biased and one-sided Hanif “independent advisory panel” is perceived as part of this continuing “demonization” campaign against Bersih 3.0.

Today’s episode reminds me of Tun Mahathir’s dismissal of the former Cabinet of Tun Abdullah as a “half-past six” Cabinet as well as his admission earlier this year that UMNO faced a scarcity of competent leaders at the top for decades due to the unwritten policy of restraining those with brains from joining the party.

Clearly, Malaysia not only has still a “half-past six” Cabinet under the Najib administration, the country also has a “half-past six” Deputy Prime Minister and Education Minister as well as a “half-past six” Higher Education Minister to co-produce the PTPTN/Unisel farce!

*Lim Kit Siang, DAP Parliamentary Leader & MP for Ipoh Timor