“I hope he will revamp the whole system and bring back the prominence of the English language and recognise the UEC (the United Examination Certificate of independent Chinese-medium schools).
The UEC is not yet accepted as an entry qualification to public universities and the federal civil service.
This morning Mahathir announced that he would handle the education portfolio in addition to being prime minister, while his deputy, Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, would handle women’s affairs.
Mahathir has named Lim Guan Eng to be finance minister, Muhyiddin Yassin as home minister and Mohamad Sabu to be defence minister. He will announce the names of five other nominees over the weekend to fill an initial 10 positions in his Cabinet.
The new ministers are expected to their oath of office on Monday.
Nazri was tourism minister and previously minister for legal matters in Najib Razak’s government which fell at the general election last week.