A DAP assemblyperson has reiterated her urging for Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak's wife Rosmah Mansor to relinquish her position as the patron of Permata.

Yeo Bee Yin was responding to Rosmah's aide, Rizal Mansor, who argued that his boss' scholastic achievements make her qualified to helm the agency involved with early childhood development.

“If academic qualification is the measure of whether a person is qualified to be the patron, did he mean that among all the civil servants in the Education Ministry or Women, Family and Community Development Ministry, no one is more qualified than Rosmah for the position? This is a huge insult to the civil service in Malaysia.

“The only reason that Rosmah is the patron of Permata is that she is the wife of the prime minister. If one goes to the website of Permata, it is not difficult to spot that the centre of attention of the website is Rosmah instead of the children,” the Damansara Utama assemblyperson said in a statement.

Yeo said apart from academic qualifications, a person must also have legitimacy, credibility and the public's trust in order to be a patron.

“Rosmah has none of it. She is not elected by the people and her husband is leading a minority government that obtained only 48 percent of the popular votes in the last general election.

“Most importantly, Rosmah has zero public trust and credibility,” she added.

Citing countries such as Finland, Sweden and Singapore, Yeo said there was no need for Permata to have a patron.

“Countries with world-class early childhood education have no patron for their early childhood education development programmes.

“I would like to repeat again, early childhood education development should not be under the Prime Minister's Department. It should be under full ministries such as the Education Ministry and Women, Family and Community Development Ministry, as they are better equipped and have more expertise and experiences in the these fields.

“All in all, I suggest Rosmah and her aide not to defend and play victim anymore, just quit,” she added.

Previously, Rosmah urged all quarters not to politicise or cast aspersion on Permata, which prompted Yeo to urge the prime minister's wife to quit if she is unable to handle public scrutiny of the agency.