KUALA LUMPUR, May 27 – Newly-appointed Deputy Education Minister Datuk Mary Yap (photo) today said she was committed to ensure that the Education Ministry was free from politics.
She said such a commitment was vital as she viewed the widespread of negative sentiments that influence the younger generation to not appreciate the efforts of the government, as really alarming.
“As an educationist and deputy minister, I don’t like to bring in politics into education because here we are educating the younger generation.
“It worries me to find out that the culture of getting our younger generation to not appreciate what the government was doing and that is really alarming but I would not want to comment on that matter,” she said when asked whether she regarded herself as a Chinese leader for Barisan Nasional (BN) and her views on a report by a Malay daily recently asking “What More The Chinese Want?”.
Yap was met after officiating the Digital Education Show Asia 2013, here, today, where she read the speech text by Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin who is also the Education Minister.
To a question if she regarded herself as a Chinese representative in the Cabinet, Yap said such a question had been posed to her a number of times before since her appointment as a deputy minister.
“I have worked in the Ministry of Education for the past 36 years, interacting with all races. I never saw myself as a Chinese per se but I see myself as a Malaysian.
“I suppose that is the projection of the 1Malaysia concept. When you talk about representing the Chinese, any issue pertaining to Chinese education and you can bring it to me, it is part and parcel of my duty and my responsibility to look into it,” she added.
She added that her lack of proficiency in the Mandarin language would not be an issue.
“My lack of proficiency in Mandarin does not mean I do not understand the Chinese education and its background. Information on the Chinese education system is available in English or Bahasa Malaysia and I can read or refer. I am proficient in Bahasa Malaysia and English while I have a set of officers who are experienced in such matters to assist,” she said.
– BERNAMA
