Let him have the education portfolio

The manifesto is clear -- the PM should not take on another ministerial role.

Much has been made about the fact that Dr M is also taking on the Education portfolio. This does seem to contravene Pakatan's manifesto that says the PM won't take on other ministerial roles, especially Finance.

Some Pakatan folks have been scrambling to explain this saying silly things like they thought the manifesto only prohibits the PM from taking on Finance but is okay with other portfolios. That's nonsense.

The reality is that Dr M wants to fix Education and that desire didn't ring any alarm bells so they didn't object. It would be very different if he had wanted to take on Finance. There would be immediate and fervent objections because it'd be too much consolidation of power.

Lim Kit Siang has explained that Dr M's decision to take on Education does not violate the spirit of the manifesto because it was understood that only Finance is off guards. Frankly alarm bells would have gone off if Dr M had tried to take on Home Affairs too. But Education... people are comfortable with him having that.

This is not to say Education is not important. It's very important, especially in the context of nation-building and preparing our citizenry for the future. But most people think Dr M will steer things in the right direction. For example, he will probably revert back to the teaching of Science and Math in English. And there will be a general emphasis on English as well because he has said in many interviews that the language of knowledge is English. Most Malaysians want this.

At a recent press conference he highlighted the fact that the way we educate our kids is outdated and indicated that he would like to incorporate elements of e-learning so that students can learn from the best instructors.

Although he did not talk about integrating students from different races this is a topic that he has touched on many times in the past. The harsh reality is that the vernacular school system, which is deeply entrenched in Malaysian society, does also lead to the polarization of races. Anyone who argues otherwise is simply naive or disingenuous. Yet, it's politically impossible to do away with vernacular schools. Dr M had tried to find a solution to this before with his Wawasan Schools concept but that failed. So, it's a huge challenge for any politician to take on but Dr M is obviously up for that challenge.

I'm personally glad that he is taking on this role. This is a chance for us to really change and improve our education system. I can't imagine anyone else within the Pakatan ranks who would be suitable for fixing our education system. Actually, I can. Ong Kian Ming and Tony Pua, both from DAP, have deep thoughts about education but both are relatively too junior to be education minister, which is also a politically sensitive post. So, Dr M it is. Power to him.