LET’S not rush into abolishing the Ujian Pencapian Sekolah Rendah (UPSR) and Penilaian Menengah Rendah (PMR) examinations until we’ve heard the views of everyone. The issue is not about whether the majority wants it but what’s the right thing to do even if it was the minority’s views.

It is reassuring to hear from Education Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin that he would hold a round-table discussion to allow stakeholders to deliberate on whether the two examinations should be scrapped.

He has said the views of all quarters including teachers and parents had been gathered, adding that he had received overwhelming response to the proposal to replace the two public examinations with a school-based assessment system.

As much as PKR leaders like to project themselves as defenders of the people and the Barisan Nasional as a corrupt, incompetent and detached government, they cannot run away from the fact that politics is about power – or more precisely, the spoils of power.

Selangor is Pakatan Rakyat’s jewel in the crown and Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim, a PKR leader, is the Mentri Besar. Another important state, Penang, is under the DAP’s Lim Guan Eng.

The fact that these two states, the most developed in the country, are under Pakatan rule speaks volumes of how much political clout they have gained.

Many of our politicians prefer to put on the blinkers and pretend that all is rosy and fine in Malaysia, and assume that we are still ahead in the region.

Here’s the bad news. We may have gotten out of the recession and the Prime Minister has taken bold initiatives to make things work but we’ve got to get out of this mindset.