Chapter 1 – Report of the Policy, Law and Complaints Group PENDIDIK claimed that there is selectiveness in the enforcement of the said rules as only teachers who supported certain opposition parties were victimised. (iii) The termination of services of teachers on the basis of health without considering the previous record of services of the teachers. As a follow-up to the memoranda, the Commission met with the Ministry of Education (MOE) on 2 June, to obtain feedback on the allegations. During the meeting chaired by the Deputy Director General of the MOE, Dato’ Haji Ahmad Tajudin bin Jab, the Commission was briefed on the newly introduced EG-Tukar system, which is meant to ensure that the transfer of teachers is based on the needs of and vacancies in schools. In relation to the issues brought up in the memoranda, the Commission was provided with the following explanations: (i) The transfer of teachers could be based on the teachers’ requests or directives from the Ministry or Department of Education. The implementation of EG-Tukar, or also known as the ‘traffic light system’, is part of the Ministry’s initiative to ensure transparency in the transfer of teachers. Nevertheless, any directive for transfer made by the Minister is considered valid. (ii) Under the Public Officers (Conduct and Discipline) Regulations 1993, teachers are not allowed to engage in any political activity unless they receive written permission from the Secretary General of the MOE as stipulated in Regulation 21(A) of the Regulations. (iii) Disciplinary actions are taken against teachers after their cases are brought before and decided by the Education Service Commission (ESC). They were given opportunity to submit written representation before their cases were decided by the ESC. Further, the Commission met with the Minister of Education, Dato’ Seri Idris Jusoh, on 13 July to highlight the complaints. As a result of the discussion, the Minister requested the Commission to forward the list of teachers who claimed to have been victimised due to their political affiliation, for the MOE to study their grievances and provide feedback or rectify the problem. While the Commission was trying to obtain permission from the affected teachers to submit their details to the MOE, PENDIDIK informed the Commission that several of the affected teachers had been reinstated or transferred back to their previous schools and therefore decided not to pursue the matter further. (f) Hold any office in any political party. 86 BOOK-ANR2016-01-latest.indb 86 08/04/2016 3:32 PM