Harapan’s immoral stance on fake degrees

QUESTION TIME | The lack of action against Pakatan Harapan politicians holding key positions over the alleged use of fake degrees is worrisome and reflects further evidence of a decline in moral standards within the coalition.

When fake degrees became a big issue among Umno/BN politicians, the Umno politicians simply carried on in their positions, as if they had never lied about their degrees or misrepresented their qualifications, which may be a crime in some circumstances.

Now we see a slew of such allegations being made against Harapan coalition members. Conspicuous by their absence are voices within Harapan calling for a complete explanation by those implicated and expulsion from their posts. This is a highly immoral, unethical and hypocritical stance.

The component parties of Harapan are now tongue-tied over their own members being accused of holding fake degrees when they were so loud in their proclamations for explanations and expulsions when they were previously in the opposition.

Let’s look at the more recent dirty half-dozen cases to see how much substance there is for each of the claims, and how they have stacked up in terms of proper explanations and replying to allegations.

1. Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng (DAP)

So far, Lim Guan Eng is the highest-ranking cabinet member, as finance minister, to have been accused of misrepresenting his qualifications. He is also secretary-general of DAP, the number one person in the party.

MCA president Wee Ka Siong questioned whether Lim is a qualified professional accountant, although he did not question his university degree.

However, Lim’s political secretary Tony Pua replied, without directly addressing the question of whether Lim is a professional accountant...