KUALA LUMPUR - Issues related to education and food security were among the matters raised by several MPs during the debate session for the Supply Bill 2023 at the Dewan Rakyat here today.
Datuk Seri Saifuddin Abdullah (PN-Indera Mahkota) touched on education as he urged the government to mobilise education reform measures to evaluate the implementation of the national education philosophy and policies, beginning at the university level.
"Two reasons it shoud start at universities. First, the goal of nurturing a good man and not merely a good worker should be instilled through the concept of insan kamil (a perfect soul) modelled after the Prophet Muhammad PBUH.
"Secondly, because almost every spectrum of life is determined by university qualifications,” the Perikatan Nasional Education and Higher Education Portfolio chief said.
He also suggested that the Education Ministry consider options to encourage beneficiaries of previous national education policies or programmes to contribute to the country.
"For instance, certain school alumni like full boarding schools or premier schools can be given tax incentives to encourage them to collect funds more aggressively, which can then be used to fund their alma mater’s needs partially,” Saifuddin said.
Touching on the same topic, Datuk Seri Dr Wee Ka Siong (BN-Ayer Hitam) urged the government to continue the provision of allocations to all national-type schools, including Chinese-language national-type schools, Tamil national-type schools and also missionary schools under Budget 2023.
"The presentation of the Budget this time is slightly different, so I ask that it (allocation for national-type schools) not be removed as (Finance Minister) Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz had stated RM1.1 billion (in alliocations) in the past and it was 'over and above' that of dilapidated schools,” he said.
On food security, Datuk Mohd Shahar Abdullah (BN-Paya Besar) said Malaysia should emulate other developed countries, including four-season countries in terms of food storage technology for use during disasters to control the price of food.
He said though Malaysia was blessed with various crops, livestock and fish, the country often faced food supply shortages and imports have been steadily rising each year.
"A combination of infrastructure and technology is critical to help normalise the fluctuating prices of food due to supply shortages caused by political bans, market inefficiencies, as well as general and environmental crises.
"Food storage technology will boost (food) security levels, logistics is also another issue that needs to be tackled in food security,” Mohd Shahar said.
The Dewan Rakyat will reconvene tomorrow. - BERNAMA