KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 16 — Education Minister Maszlee Malik should concentrate on his intended policies and let these speak for themselves rather than spend time fending off criticism over minor policies such as the colour of shoes and socks, said Lim Kit Siang.
The Iskandar Puteri MP told the minister he should not lower himself by entertaining the selective criticism over his initiative for national school students to switch from white to black shoes in three years’ time.
Lim said Maszlee should particularly ignore the remarks of low-quality former ministers, when referring to former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak and his former Cabinet members.
“Maszlee is not a member of any kakistocracy, but a person of substance; and the Mahathir Cabinet of 2018 is definitely superior to all the Najib Cabinets.
“This is why Maszlee must quickly learn from the lessons of modern communications and focus his energies on proving that he is a better education minister than Najib himself, who held the Education portfolio from 1995-2000,” Lim said in a statement.
The Education Ministry decided that all national school students must use black school shoes by 2021, with pupils allowed to choose between this and white shoes until then.
Political rivals such as Najib later took aim at the minister for an apparent lack of foresight as the policy did not take into consideration the colour of students’ socks.
