FORMER education minister Maszlee Malik has denied a news report that his push to reopen the King Salman Centre for International Peace (KSCIP) led to his removal from the cabinet.

“This is slander,” Maszlee tweeted today of the Free Malaysia Today (FMT) report, which said his plans to reopen the centre was the “tipping point” that led to Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s order to quit the cabinet.

The KSCIP was set up under the Najib Razak administration and shut down by Pakatan Harapan (PH) after it took over the federal government.

The centre was a partnership between Malaysia and Saudi Arabia to fight terrorism, but critics dismissed it because of Saudi Arabia’s brand of Islam, which has been linked to militant ideology, and Riyadh’s own use of violence against its detractors.

Under Najib, the government was to have granted the centre a plot of land in Putrajaya for its headquarters.

FMT’s report said Maszlee was behind a plan to restart the centre. It also carried a denial by Maszlee’s aide, Zul Fikri Zamir, saying “This is malicious”.

Maszlee in a series of tweets today said there had never been any discussion on reviving the KSCIP while he was education minister, and asked what the centre had to do with the education portfolio.

“You can check my work with education ministry staff. All my work, everything is in reports and has been recorded.

“God, give me strength to face such slander. I no longer hold any post. I am no longer a minister. I am an ordinary member of the public now. I urge a stop to such slander by whoever is behind it, and I appeal to the media to check their facts before publishing,” he said.

Maszlee announced his resignation as education minister on January 2, and it was effective the following day.

Dr Mahathir at an event in Putrajaya today also denied the FMT report on Maszlee’s purported plans to revive the KSCIP.

He said Maszlee had done some good things as minister, but that there were other issues during the course of his 20-month stint as minister that had made his resignation necessary. – January 7, 2020.