We refer to the news that Rosmah Mansor is making a trip to the UK to expand Permata program from 4 May 2017 until 10 May 2017 [i] and have many questions as follow.
First of all, how much is the entire UK trip, which includes Rosmah Mansor, two ministers – Rohani Abdul Karim and Azalina Othman, 32 students and 6 teachers? And most importantly, who is footing the bill?
If it is funded by tax-payers monies, is it wise for the government to spend lavishly on this trip at this time when it is slashing budget in almost all areas of public services and subsidies? In fact, is the trip even necessary?
It was reported that PERMATApintar is co-organizing the Nobelist Mindset Program with Royal Society of London. We noted that PERMATApintar has organized four Nobelist Mindset Workshop before in January 2013, October 2013, November 2014 and September 2016. All of them were held in Malaysia. [ii] Why does this Nobelist Mindset Program have to be organized in the UK?
In addition, Rosmah Mansor is to witness the signing of letter of intent with Cambridge University and Oxford University. Does Permata need to pay to forge such “glamorous” cooperation? How much does it cost?
Last but not least, do we need two ministers to go on this trip? What are they doing in the UK for the entire week? Ministers’ salaries are paid for by tax-payers hence they should be accountable to us on their official trip.
There are too many questions revolve around the trip. We call upon Permata to give us details especially on the cost for this UK trip, the Nobelist Mindset Program and the cooperation with Cambridge and Oxford Universities.