KUALA LUMPUR – Former deputy education minister Teo Nie Ching (Kulai-PH) today sarcastically commended ministers for playing the blame game and dodging accountability over the distribution of laptops students so well.
“The Finance Ministry asked us to ask the Education Ministry (KPM); KPM told us Yayasan Hasanah has not handed over the laptops.
“This cabinet is good at ‘kicking the ball’. If all the ministers formed a football team, we could win the world championship,” she said when debating the 12th Malaysia Plan in the Dewan Rakyat today.
“With a cabinet this size, how can no minister explain who should be held responsible for this extreme delay?” she questioned.
During the 2021 Budget tabling in November last year, Finance Minister Datuk Seri Tengku Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz had announced the giveaway of 150,000 laptops to students from B40 households.
The devices were supposed to be distributed to primary and secondary school students in February.
However, to date, only slightly more than 111,000 units have been delivered.
Teo also highlighted the government’s dependence on donations from government-linked companies (GLCs), saying that the government’s problem is not a lack of funds but rather a misallocation of them.
She questioned the decision to spend millions to redecorate the prime minister’s official residence.
“When it comes to redecorating the official residences of the PM, RM35 million is immediately approved with no problem. But when our youth need laptops, they have had to wait until today.
“Are our ministers not ashamed?”
Datuk Mahfuz Omar (Pokok Sena-PH) yesterday sought justification for the renovations costing upwards of RM30 million at Seri Perdana, the prime minister’s official residence in Putrajaya.
It was clarified later today that the actual cost of the works was RM38.5 million. – The Vibes, September 29, 2021
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