KUALA LUMPUR, August 19 — Health Minister Dzulkefly Ahmad reminded himself not to surround himself with sycophants, saying that criticisms could help improve his work.
“The failure of any government is when top honcho stops listening to feedback especially negative ones.
“Don’t always surround yourselves with those who pander to you all the time. A critique may go a long way to get us to improve and do better,” he tweeted yesterday after speaking about the Health Ministry’s agenda for the 12th Malaysia Plan at a session attended by almost 500 people from various ministries and agencies, industry representatives, academics, and civil society.
Dzulkefly’s tweet received positive reactions among his followers, who wanted the reminder to be passed to all those in the government.
Physician groups have urged Dzulkefly to raise private general practitioners’ (GP) consultation fees that have been capped by the government at a 1992 rate, while other stakeholders opposed the Health Ministry’s plan to control medicine prices.
The Pakatan Harapan government has recently received backlash over issues such as allowing rare earths producer Lynas Corp to continue its operations in Malaysia despite concerns over radioactive waste, and the introduction of khat writing in schools.
