Housing and Local Government Minister Nga Kor Ming has come under fire from netizens following a social media post responding to Perikatan Nasional’s (PN) call to postpone the policy allowing children as young as six to enter Standard One.
In a post on his X account, Nga criticised PN’s stance on the education policy, stating that many countries have long allowed children to begin formal schooling at age six.
“PN was very loud and boisterous when the government proposed allowing six-year-olds to enter school. For your information, 130 countries have implemented such policies for a long time,” he wrote.
However, the post sparked backlash after Nga included a snippet from a 2018 news article referencing a controversial belief regarding underage marriages in Kelantan. He went on to compare PN’s opposition to early school entry with its alleged stance on child marriage.
“It is proven that PN is weak on education. But when it comes to marriage, PN doesn’t even care if it involves minors. This is strange. Think about it,” Nga added.
Many Malaysians criticised the comparison, arguing that equating schooling for six-year-olds with child marriage was inappropriate and misleading. Others also took issue with the use of an article published eight years ago, urging the minister to exercise greater responsibility in public discourse.
Several netizens accused Nga of being provocative and said the comparison only deepened political and social divisions, with some calling on him to raise the standard of debate on education policy.
