Mustapa Mohamed - Protector Of The Twisted And The Flawed.

The Ethnic Relations course guideline module introduced by the Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) would continue to be used though some claim the facts are twisted.

Higher Education Minister Datuk Mustapa Mohamed while admitting there could be some mistakes in the module said on the whole it was still suitable for use. "From the 120 pages, only four are disputed and mostly the problem is in its interpretation only," he told reporters. Therefore, he said, the question of retracting the module as requested by the opposition doesn't arise and its only a teaching and learning guide.

My God, I never expected Mustapa to turn so quick! He sounds like an apologist for the publishers. Its so pathetic. It also speaks volumes of the care and importance we give to quality control when the minister of higher education nonchalantly dismisses objections to serious errors by saying only 4 out of 120 pages are disputed! In any other country which prides in delivering quality, such gross errors would have drawn an instant rebuke, appropriate action taken against the publisher and resulted in the immediate withdrawal of the flawed module. Especially when it deals with such a crucial subject - inter-ethnic relations.

Such a cavalier attitude towards everything we do and almost everything that we bungle in, is the reason why our graduates are considered low quality and why Malaysia is increasingly becoming a joke in the field of education.

Oh when will we learn?