KOTA KINABALU: The Education Ministry’s proposal to transfer 80,000 teachers from Peninsular Malaysia to Sabah and Sarawak will not augur well for Barisan Nasional (BN), especially in Sabah.
Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) vice president Datuk Herbert T Lagadan in expressing his opinion, described the move as ‘a time bomb for BN in Sabah’.
“Already BN leaders in Sabah are facing an insurmountable task trying to explain to young voters why they have to trust the BN government, especially those who are angered by the fact that applicants for the KPI-SPM intake from Sabah and Sarawak had been rejected.
“So the planned transfer of teachers from Peninsular Malaysia will be the fuel to ignite the anger of our young voters in Sabah,” Herbert said in a statement yesterday.
The Kadamaian assemblyman added that if the Education Ministry had such a plan, then the notion that Sabah and Sarawak as the fixed deposits of the BN government must be discarded.
According to the Assistant Community Service and Consumer Affairs Minister, he failed to understand why so many Sabahans had been denied of placement in the teachers’ training college but yet were told that there are not enough local trained teachers to fill up vacant posts in the state.
“Is this not day-light robbery of the golden opportunity for Sabahans to be trained teachers? I hope future intakes of trainee teachers in both states will all be locals,” he said.