It been a real tough beginning for the new year. First we had former health minister Dr Chua Soi Lek’s open confession and his gentlemanly conduct in resigning his post. For what is worth, in my opinion his sex scandal was immoral but he regained his stature as a leader with his open admission.

But what do you do when the prime minister of the country lies to the nation and in the noble house called Parliament. Is it acceptable? Is it acceptable that the PM announces in his Budget speech last year in Parliament that all school fees will be removed in the coming year (2008) giving false hopes to millions of people by claiming that education is free? Is it morally acceptable when the education minister goes to the United Nations (Unesco) and lies about the same matter to the whole world? This raised a lot of morality issues.

I felt Education Minister Hishammuddin Hussein Onn’s outburst on TV3 last week was simply immature. He has shown very little maturity as a politician. From his rambling on the issue of school fees over the past two weeks, it appears that the minister has got himself confused on the issue of ‘school fees’, ‘additional payments’ and ‘PIBG fees’.

Hishammuddin, please allow me to save you some time and explain the above and hopefully you are better prepared when a parent next comes up to you. First of all, in Parliament the PM said ‘all school fees’. The government circular SPI 4/1998 dated March 16, 1998, clearly explains what constitutes ‘school fees’. In this aspect, it is quite clear that your boss, the PM, in Parliament had said all ‘school fees’ and not ‘Yuran Khas’.

In SPI 13/2007, it is clearly stated that all parents must to pay the so-called new additional payments. However, when we study the so-called new additional payments, it appears that 95% of them are the same charges as in the old ‘school fees’. This means that this ‘bayaran tambahan’ is now the new name for ‘school fees’ and the school authorities must decide on the amount after discussing with their Parent-Teacher Association. The word is ‘discuss’ and not ‘seek approval’ of the PTA.

The decision lies with the school head and the Education Department director. I hope I have not confused you just yet. And at no time is this PTA fees. The money doesn’t go into the PTA account. It goes into the school’s ‘Akaun Kerajaan’.

I believe there are people out there who were looking forward to not paying school fees for their children because they can’t afford it. But for many people like me, the issue is not the amount. The issue here is the principle and morality. It is quite obvious that someone in the Education Ministry did a wrong calculation and decided that even by abolishing school fees, the ministry would still have an adequate budget to run all the schools.

At the very last moment they issued circular SPI 13/2007 mentioned above. Someone made a mistake. Admit it. I would have a greater respect for Hishammuddin if he come forward on TV and say he would like to apologise because his ministry had miscalculated the cost of running the schools and as such we cannot abolish school fees just yet. This would have given him a higher stature.

I think when we made a mistake, we should apologise and as a kind and decent person, we should forgive. I am not asking him to resign. I believe the majority, including me, are willing to forgive. There is no need to twist and turn the story of ‘school fees abolished’ upside down to confuse us lot hoping that by the end of the day, the majority will just say ‘Let it be lah . This is Malaysia’.

For me this is a matter of principle. Do the right thing. So Hishammuddin, I, as a citizen of this country, humbly request that you apologise to the nation over this matter.