THERE must be more to it when former education minister Maszlee Malik claimed that ex-finance minister Lim Guan Eng had opposed the free meal programme for schoolchildren, said Penang Deputy Chief Minister II Prof P Ramasamy.
“To be fair to both former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Lim, Maszlee must provide a full explanation on what transpired during the discussion on the programme.
“Leaving Mahathir aside, I know Lim personally for a long time. He would never oppose any programmes that will benefit the underserved and needy,” he told FocusM.
On July 15, Maszlee alleged that his plans to give free meals to schoolchildren received pushback from the previous prime minister and finance minister.
While he did not mention names, it was obvious that he was referring to Mahathir and Lim.
“You should remember that in 2019, I started the idea of having free school meals. We ran a pilot experiment on 100 schools and we were about to launch it in 2020.
“But the prime minister then, in 2020, and the finance minister strongly disagreed with that idea,” Free Malaysia Today reported him as saying.
On that note, Ramasamy said the Simpang Renggam MP had made a serious allegation against Lim and he should detail out what happened so the public would get the right information on the issue.
“That’s why I believe there is more than what meets the eye to this. Maszlee should provide details,” he concluded. – July 21, 2022
