Zahid tells police to probe previous UPSR leaks

PUTRAJAYA: Police will conduct an investigation to determine if cases of previous examination question leaks were done by the same group of individuals who leaked this year's Ujian Penilaian Sekolah Rendah (UPSR) questions.
Home Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi (pix) said police viewed the recent UPSR fiasco as an incident that requires urgent action so that it would be a lesson for others to not repeat the act.
The recent leak of the English and Science examination papers caused a major outcry among parents and teachers as it had affected more than 470,000 Year Six pupils, forcing them to re-sit the two papers on Sept 30.
Asked if there is a possibility of a syndicate being behind the whole incident, Ahmad Zahid said he did not think so as based on the information gathered by the police, all those involved like the teachers and headmasters were in primary schools.
He said police are expected to make more arrests.
Meanwhile, Second Education Minister Idris Jusoh today announced the eight panel members of the special committee set up to review the administration of the public examination, were chosen based on their high profile experience and professions in their respective fields.
The panel will be headed by former Chief of Justice Tun Zaki Azmi.
The eight members are Integrity Institute Malaysia president Datuk Dr Mohd Tap Salleh, former Education Ministry's deputy director-general Datuk Dr Asariah Mior Shaharuddin, former UKM deputy chancellor Tan Sri Sharifah Hapsah Syed Hassan Shahabudin, Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commissions chairman Datuk Mohamed Sharil Mohamed Tarmizi, Cyber Security Malaysia chief executive officer Dr Amirudin Abdul Wahab, National Union Teaching Profession's secretary-general Lok Yim Peng, director-general of Chief Government Security Office Datuk Johari Jamaluddin and former deputy minister of Rural and Regional Development Tan Sri K. Kumaran.
Education Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin announced the set up of the committee on Sept 16.
Idris said that committee will hold its first meeting as early as next week.
Meanwhile, Bernama reported two more teachers were remanded today for four days to assist in police investigation into the leak in the Science and English examination papers in this year's Primary School Achievement Test (UPSR) in Putrajaya today.
Magistrate Nur Dahlia Azmi issued the remand order against the two for the probe under Section 8 (1) of the Official Secrets Act (OSA) 1972.
The two are a woman aged 26, who was arrested in Labis, Johor, and a 31-year-old man who was held in Nilai, Negri Sembilan.
So far, 12 people have been picked up by police in connection with the leak, 10 of them teachers, one an insurance agent and one, an engineer.