THE leak of Ujian Pencapaian Sekolah Rendah Science and English papers on the social media, which has caused much duress to some 473,000 candidates, is unacceptable.
It is an embarrassment to the education minister and his ministry. It is a breach of security and those responsible must be made to face the full brunt of the law as provided for under the Official Secrets Act (OSA).
A full scale probe has been launched by the police and they should leave no stone unturned to bring the culprits to book.
Cases of examination papers being leaked are nothing new. Unfortunately, nothing drastic has been done to arrest the problem. The integrity of the Malaysian Examination Board has been compromised.
An independent panel must conduct a thorough investigation and make recommendations to plug the loopholes that brought about the leak.
The report of the panel must be made public in line with the principle of transparency as this is a matter of public interests.
The process of setting examination questions and delivering the examination papers is subject to stringent procedures and all those involved are required to take a pledge under the OSA on trust and secrecy.
What has happened in the latest incident is a breach of secrecy under the OSA. It is time for the education minister, who is also the deputy prime minister, to use all powers at his disposal to put an
end to such a deviant act and restore the public’s confidence in the system.
Tan Sri Lee Lam Thye, Kuala Lumpur