KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 28 — DAP’s MP for Damansara Tony Pua today criticised the Foon Yew High School for inviting former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak to speak at one of the school’s branches in Johor Baru last week.

In a Facebook post today, Pua said that Najib — who is out on bail after being convicted of financial misappropriation relating to the 1MDB scandal — being asked to speak at the school signified that there was “something really screwed up in the society”.

“The school board of governors are setting the worst possible example for our children, telling them in no uncertain terms that it is okay to cheat, to lie, to steal, to abuse power and to bully the helpless, as long as you are rich and powerful,” he said.

Last Friday, Malaysiakini reported that Najib had spoken at the Seri Alam branch of the Foon Yew High School, and promoted Barisan Nasional ahead of the Johor elections. 

School chairman Tay Chin Hein was quoted as saying that Najib was the one who had approached the school to give the speech.

Tay reportedly added that Najib was welcomed as the school was “grateful” to the former prime minister for approving the construction of the school’s first branch in Kulai in 1999, and then the Seri Alam branch in 2013.

“These governors should all be sacked for a complete lack of integrity, for failing to set an upright example for our young and innocent children and for destroying the moral fibre of our society,” said Pua

“Education has always been at the heart of the Chinese community.  

“But if this is the direction the school governors are taking our schools, then we are on a path to a slow but certain decay and malaise in our culture, our righteousness, our dignity and our honour,” he added.