The Jawi “snoop squad” in Putrajaya should have been nipped in the bud at the ministry level without having to reach the Cabinet which should be dealing with policy and macro  issues of integrity, transparency, efficiency,  excellence, justice and  good governance

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Media Statement (2)
by Lim Kit Siang  
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(Parliament, Thursday): It was all front-page headline news today – “DISBAND SNOOP SQUAD” (New Straits Times), “No snooping” (The Star), “Snoop squad axed” (The Sun), and “Kabinet tolak skuad intip” (Berita  Harian).

It is a rare occasion that so many  Ministers  commented on a single  issue post-Cabinet – involving Datuk Seri Radzi Sheikh Ahmad and Datuk Seri Mohd Nazri Aziz, both  Ministers in the Prime Minister’s Department, Datuk Seri Abdul Kadir Sheikh Fadzir and the Human Resources Minister Datuk Seri Dr. Fong Chan Onn.

While Malaysians applaud the Cabinet decision to direct the Federal Territory Religious Department to disband the latest attempt at a morality policy, as its “snoop squad”  would be sending out the wrong message nationally and internationally of religious extremism and zealotry in the country, it still leaves many thinking Malaysians quite disturbed by one nagging question:

Why  the idea and decision on the  Jawi “snoop squad” in Putrajaya in the first instance was not nipped in the bud at the ministry level without having to reach the Cabinet,  which should be dealing with policy and  macro  issues of integrity, transparency, efficiency,  excellence, justice and  good governance.

Yesterday, the Cabinet took another decision, given front-page headline by Utusan Malaysia: “-Kebenaran pelajar guna telefon bimbit di sekolah - Kabinet arah tarik balik”.

If the controversial decision last week of the Education Director-General Datuk Dr. Ahmad Sipon allowing schoolchildren to  use of handphones in schools has to be reversed by the entire Cabinet itself, what then is the role of the Education Minister, Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein?

If Ministers are abdicating their responsibilities by passing-the-buck to the Cabinet, how can the Cabinet set policy directions for a “First-World Infrastructure, First-World Mentality” Malaysia with a world-class public service and delivering the reform pledge and programme of the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi for a clean, incorruptible, efficient, transparent,  trustworthy, just and  people-oriented administration  prepared to hear the truth from the rakyat?                          

(19/01/2006)