PM: Even angels make mistakes

Even angels make mistakes, Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad said today when asked about Pakatan Harapan being termed a 'U-turn government.'

"Sometimes we go the wrong way and we turn around, but only if necessary.

"We are not perfect people. Although most of us are angels, even angels make mistakes.

"So when angels make mistakes, they turn around," Mahathir told reporters after the Pakatan Harapan presidential council meeting at Bersatu's Petaling Jaya headquarters.

The Harapan government has received criticisms over its handling of some of its election manifesto promises since its formation.

The latest policy flip-flop appears to be the new repayment scheme for the National Higher Education Fund (PTPTN) borrowers, which has been postponed yesterday pending further public consultation.

Mahathir said there were a lot of protests regarding the new repayment scheme so the cabinet has decided to postpone it to modify the scheme after taking in the opinions of the public.

The prime minister also revealed that several civil servants were laid off due to the closure of several government agencies.

The agencies, which he did not name, were closed because they were misused by the previous government for party purposes, he said.

"When we closed down the agencies, many officers and staff were laid off.

"We need to re-examine this to see whether they were involved or not... because many of them were not involved in politics, but were just government servants," he said.

He also said that under the previous government, the employees of these agencies were receiving their remunerations with money from "unknown sources".

The Harapan government cannot keep these agencies open as they do not have that sort of money to sustain the agencies, Mahathir said.

"We did not steal money so we can only rely on the government revenue and the revenue is not enough to afford the high costs of these agencies," he said. - Mkini