KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 29): Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak has come to defence of his wife's Permata programme today, from criticisms by the Opposition, calling the attacks "unconstructive".

Najib said Permata is an important project which is vital for the country's future and should be embraced by all parties including Pakatan Rakyat.

The Permata national programme was a brainchild of Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor that strives for the development of early childhood education and care.

The programme was taken over by the Education Ministry last year but is still monitored by the Permata Programme Implementation Council chaired by Najib and the Permata Programme Monitoring Working Committee chaired by Rosmah.

Najib said childcare centres are important as they promote and allow women to return to work after giving birth.

"There are still organisations that have yet to have childcare centres and they should start establishing the centres comprehensively. National Council of Women's Organisations (NCWO) can become the body that raises this matter continuously.

"Permata is also a programme that supports the need for childcare centres and by chance, my wife is also championing Permata. But what is important is whether Permata is good for us or not.

"I have no doubt that early childhood care is absolutely vital for the future of Malaysia and this is why I see the importance of early childhood education.

"But the problem with the Opposition is that even when the programme is good, they still want to belittle it. They even belittle my trip to Gaza," he said when launching the NCWO national seminar at Dewan Perdana Felda here today.

He said the Opposition must give constructive criticism, rather than attacking or belittling a project, just because it is a government project.

He added that if something is good, the Opposition should admit it even though it is done by the government.

"That should be the role of a constructive Opposition. Whatever it is, the time will come soon when for to us to evaluate which is good or not," he said.

He also announced that government has approved an allocation of RM50 million to the Women, Family and Community Development Ministry to implement the "Hati Rakyat" programme starting next month.

The allocation is meant to help single mothers, people with special needs and senior citizens.

The government has been heavily criticised for nepotism when it allocated RM111 million in the 2011 Budget and RM100 million in the 2010 Budget to Permata.

In the 2012 Budget, RM1.2 billion was allocated for pre-schools under government programmes which also included Permata.