PRIME Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad will review his decision to head the Education Ministry, following feedback that the move contradicts one of Pakatan Harapan’s pledges in its election manifesto.

“I did not realise that the prime minister could not hold any other portfolios,” he said, adding that he had assumed this only applied to the prime minister holding the finance portfolio.

“(I thought) it was only the Finance Ministry, until someone pointed this out to me in the manifesto,” Dr Mahathir told PH media organs in an interview at Yayasan Al-Bukhary in Kuala Lumpur today.

“So, we will renegotiate this.

“Only after I announced this did they tell me that the PM cannot hold other portfolios. But the deputy prime minister is allowed to,” he said, referring to Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, who will be in charge of women’s affairs and welfare.

He said the final decision on who will take on the education portfolio will be made after a PH presidential council meeting.

Yesterday, Dr Mahathir announced that he will hold the education portfolio, saying many people remain “uneducated” and the country’s teaching methods are “outdated”.

His announcement was met with criticism from civil society, opposition parties and even PH lawmakers.

The pact, in its manifesto, had promised that the prime minister would not hold more than one portfolio, unlike in the Barisan Nasional government.

In the previous BN administration, former prime minister Najib Razak headed the Finance Ministry.

PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim, however, said there is nothing wrong with Dr Mahathir holding the education portfolio, as the prime minister’s post is not considered a portfolio.

“The prime minister manages the country generally, and so does the deputy. These are not portfolios,” he was quoted as saying in The Star.

In the interview today, Dr Mahathir said he has been associated with many education causes following his retirement as the country’s fourth prime minister in 2003.

“I sat on a lot of committees, and many ideas that they implemented were my ideas.”

Dr Mahathir said he has new ideas on how to increase Malaysians’ English proficiency, and how to review the Moral Studies subject. – May 18, 2018.