Exam board director, officers transferred days after Jalur Gemilang gaffe

Exam board director, officers transferred days after Jalur Gemilang gaffe

Hariz Mohd
Published: May 6, 2025 8:58 AM
Updated: 11:12 AM


Summary

• The Education Ministry has allegedly transferred out several officers from its Examination Board last week.

• The orders were made just days after inaccurate displays of the national flag in the 2024 SPM Analysis Report.

• Among those reassigned is Examination Board director Roslan Abu Hassan, according to sources.

Several officers from the Education Ministry’s Examination Board were allegedly transferred out last week, just days after it published an inaccurate Jalur Gemilang in an official document.

Based on information furnished by sources, including a ministry insider, Malaysiakini determined that those transferred included board director Roslan Abu Hassan.

It was learned that Roslan, who was appointed to the position in October last year, has been reassigned to a leadership training centre under the ministry called Institut Aminuddin Baki.

Checks revealed that his deputy, Habibah Mat Rejab, was made acting director on April 28, pending the appointment of a new director.

According to sources, several other officers, said to be more than five, were transferred to different departments under the ministry.

Sealed lips

While the transfers occurred very close to the flag incident, there has yet to be any official confirmation on whether they are directly related.

Attempts to get comments from the ministry, the office of Education Minister Fadhlina Sidek, and several top ministry officials in the past week had been unfruitful as they remained tight-lipped on the incident.

Education Minister Fadhlina Sidek


Malaysiakini has also made multiple attempts to reach Roslan.

The only response received so far was from the Education Ministry’s corporate communications unit, saying they could not comment.

“So far we have no comment because the case is still under investigation,” said its chief, Nurzali Ismail, in a brief text message.

He did not respond when asked to confirm or deny the alleged transfers.

Missing moon and stripes

On April 24, the ministry released its 2024 SPM Analysis Report. It contained several images, two of which included an erroneous Jalur Gemilang.

One graphic showed students in a classroom, with a Jalur Gemilang with two stars instead of one hanging on a wall.

The flag also had eight alternating red and white stripes instead of 14.

Another picture showed a culinary class with a Jalur Gemilang in the background, but its crescent moon appears misshapen, and the star was replaced with a comma-shaped blob.

The ministry has apologised for the error and recalled the report on the same day, saying corrections were being made.

The incident came on the heels of a similar issue on April 15, when Sin Chew Daily published an illustration of a jong carrying the flags of Malaysia and China in conjunction with China’s President Xi Jinping’s state visit.

The Jalur Gemilang on the jong was missing its crescent moon, which is meant to symbolise Islam’s status as the religion of the federation.

Another Chinese daily, Kwong Wah Yit Poh, also came under scrutiny for a similar issue after it published a front page featuring the Jalur Gemilang without its iconic crescent moon.

Police had since launched investigations into the incidents and submitted their findings to the Attorney-General’s Chambers.

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