COMMENT | I must applaud Sabah PKR chairperson Christina Liew for taking a firm stand on the khat controversy right from the start.

She declared that khat would not be taught in Sabah schools, even before the federal cabinet made a final decision on the matter, reducing it from six to three pages of khat lessons in the primary school Bahasa Malaysia Year 4 syllabus and making it optional.

Liew, a Sabah deputy chief minister, was one step ahead. Education is a federal matter, and whether she had the authority to eventually stop khat lessons in Sabah schools or not is a separate matter.

That Liew dared to come out strongly against its introduction, instead of waiting for instructions from her national PKR leaders and parroting them later, speaks loudly of her determination to say and do the right thing for Sabah. This is admirable...