MASZLEE Malik was not ousted as education minister over any particular issue, said Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad. However, he confirmed that Maszlee was asked to quit. 

The former education minister is not to be blamed for all the shortcomings in the ministry, said Dr Mahathir.

“By now, the letter I wrote to him has been made public by some irresponsible parties. As you can see there are many reasons.

“I’m not saying that he did everything wrong. There are some things that he did which were right but because of these other reasons, I felt that it is necessary for him to resign and he agreed,” he said after chairing the special committee on anti-corruption in Putrajaya today.

Dr Mahathir was responding to a Free Malaysia Today report which said Maszlee attempted to reopen a Saudi Arabian-backed “anti-terrorism” centre which Pakatan Harapan had shut down. This led to his dismissal, a source told the portal.

On Sunday, Maszlee 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 revealed.

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

The Malaysian Insight highlighted the letter and its content on Sunday. Dr Mahathir did not deny the content of the letter or the report.

On December 27, the letter was sent to Maszlee’s office, while he was holidaying with his family in the US.

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

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

The letter ended with Dr Mahathir saying it had come to the point where it was better for Maszlee to resign. – January 7, 2020.