Maszlee told to quit for failing to heed cabinet orders, PM’s letter shows

The Malaysian Insight The Malaysian Insight Updated 4 years ago · Published on 5 Jan 2020 7:00AM · 8 Comments

The prime minister’s letter to Maszlee Malik telling him to resign as education minister was sent to the latter’s office on December 27 last year, when he was holidaying with his family in the US. – The Malaysian Insight file pic, January 5, 2020.

MASZLEE Malik was asked to quit as education minister because of his failure to heed cabinet directives and for often putting Putrajaya in a difficult position, a letter has revealed.

The 17-paragraph missive, written by Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, said the former International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM) lecturer did not listen to advice, and on several occasions, went against cabinet decisions.

It was sent to Maszlee’s office on December 27 last year, when he was holidaying with his family in the US.

The letter, which was sighted by The Malaysian Insight, noted that Maszlee had particularly failed to follow advice on the Jawi issue, free internet service for schools and free breakfast programme for pupils.

It pointed out that he did not want to split the education and higher education portfolios, too.

The letter ended with Dr Mahathir saying it had come to the point where it was better for Maszlee to resign.

“It is now time for Yang Berhormat (Maszlee) to withdraw from the cabinet.”

Maszlee’s problems with the cabinet began when he was appointed as IIUM president in September 2018.

Although the decision was warmly received by the varsity, critics said there was a conflict of interest as Maszlee was also education minister.

The appointment was also against Pakatan Harapan’s manifesto vow to free public institutions of higher learning from politics.

Despite repeated calls by Dr Mahathir and his cabinet peers to relinquish the university post, Maszlee stood his ground.

Bersatu president Muhyiddin Yassin was then forced to tell fellow party man Maszlee to “resign as IIUM president immediately” on November 12 that year, as the matter had been decided by the cabinet.

Finally, on January 6 last year, he confirmed his resignation from the position.

On the plan to introduce Jawi lessons in vernacular schools, which was proposed by the previous government in 2015, Maszlee’s decision to go ahead with it was badly received by Chinese and Tamil education groups.

Their opposition elicited hostility from Malay pressure groups, which viewed it as a rejection of the Arabic script and an affront to Malay culture and history.

This resulted in the Malay groups calling for vernacular schools to be shut down, and the Chinese educationists leading the charge against the teaching of Jawi in such schools becoming the target of threats.

On Thursday, Maszlee announced that he would step down as education minister, effective the following day. Listing his achievements, he said the media had not highlighted them, preferring sensational stories instead. – January 5, 2020.

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Comments

  • No matter how much Maszlee had achieved in bringing breakfast for the poor school children, repairing dilapidated schools and giving funds, it does not justify his actions in stirring up tension amongst race that could lead to racial riot and tearing down peace in our country. This is equivalent to playing with fireworks next to piles of haystack!!

    Posted 4 years ago by Witzi Leong · Reply

  • So, there u have it; I guess all of that glossy, self praising report card is just that; an attempt at vanity.

    Posted 4 years ago by Rock Hensem · Reply

  • Maszlee deserves to be sacked. No sympathy for him.

    Posted 4 years ago by Elyse Gim · Reply

  • I suppose the letter is 'sighted' because of his denials, if he had gone quietly, there probably won't be any letter sightings... given multiple opportunity to save face but he pushed it till the end...

    Posted 4 years ago by A Subscriber · Reply

  • He got more than 500k people who signed the petition for him to continue...

    Posted 4 years ago by H. Mokhtar · Reply

  • What's 500k signatures? Didn't u remember Dr M had 1million signatures ad citizen declarations, what happened? Election verdict empower authority and govt NOT signatories. Narrow thinking people, no heart for a country view of an efficient and effective education ministry. Why Non Chinese keep increasing in % to Chinese schools? Why so many international school open up? People are disappointed with the standard of national type schools. The education ministry will always deny it.

    Posted 4 years ago by James Wong · Reply

  • Didn't realise so many non malays hated Maszlee. All for jawi.

    Posted 4 years ago by G GHAZALI · Reply

    • If he had addressed the falling standards of Malaysian institutions of higher learning, taken steps to improve the standard of maths and science and English and Bahasa Malaysia in primary and secondary schools, and taken action on similar concrete issues which affect the future of our children in the global economy, and after that included the study of Jawi, he would've received everyone's support. It is exactly because he did nothing on concrete issues, but instead the his weight behind unimportant issues like Jawi, that he received criticism. It's not about Jawi; It's about getting your priorities right. Our education system is a house that's crumbling, but the education minister focuses on putting up wallpaper.

      The question of priorities is not up for argument: if our students can't achieve acceptable standards of English, maths or science to compete in the modern world, what use is being skilled at Chinese calligraphy, or dance, or trumpet, or Jawi? Fix the basics first, then indulge in elective subjects.

      Posted 4 years ago by Bee Yeo · Reply