Leave Pang alone, SJKCs aren’t illegal, Umno man tells Fadhli

Umno Supreme Council member Puad Zarkashi has told Pasir Mas MP Ahmad Fadhli Shaari to stop trying to make an issue out of Pang Sock Tao’s educational background.

PETALING JAYA: Umno Supreme Council member Puad Zarkashi has come to the defence of DAP’s Pang Sock Tao in response to a PAS MP who broached the issue of her vernacular schooling.

Puad urged Pasir Mas MP Ahmad Fadhli Shaari to stop trying to make an issue out of Pang’s educational background.

“There is no need to make an issue over Pang graduating from an SJKC. They aren’t illegal,” he said, referring to Chinese vernacular schools.

“Even if she graduated from a beauty school or a ‘sekolah pondok’, what’s the problem with that?” he said in a Facebook post.

Pang, Pakatan Harapan’s (PH) candidate for the Kuala Kubu Baharu by-election, revealed earlier this week that she had scored straight As for her SPM and UPSR examinations after Fadhli challenged her to disclose where she completed her primary and secondary schooling.

Fadhli, the PAS information chief, then said he hoped that the “issue” of her coming from a vernacular school would continue during the by-election campaign.

He was criticised by several PH leaders, while Bersatu associate wing chairman Chong Fat Full also reprimanded his Perikatan Nasional (PN) colleague over the matter.

Chong, who likewise graduated from a vernacular school, said Fadhli’s decision to highlight Pang’s educational background was an attempt to discriminate against her.

The May 11 by-election will see a four-cornered fight between Pang, PN’s Khairul Azhari Saut, Parti Rakyat Malaysia’s Hafizah Zainuddin and independent candidate Nyau Ke Xin.

The seat fell vacant following the death of three-term DAP assemblyman Lee Kee Hiong on March 21 from cancer.