Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad addresses a press conference in Putrajaya January 7, 2020. — Picture by Shafwan Zaidon
PUTRAJAYA, Jan 7 — Maszlee Malik was not asked to resign as education minister over a purported attempt to relaunch the Saudi-backed King Salman Centre for International Peace (KSCIP), the prime minister said today.
Rebutting a news report claiming this, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said he already explained why Maszlee needed to resign in a letter to the latter, which he also authenticated today.
“By now, I think the letter I wrote to him has been made public by some irresponsible people. As you can see, there are many reasons.
“I’m not saying that he did everything wrong. There are some of the things that he did that were right, but because of these other reasons, I felt that it was necessary for him to resign and he agreed,” Dr Mahathir told reporters.
When pressed to say if this involved the KSCIP, Dr Mahathir said no.
Earlier today, news portal Free Malaysia Today (FMT) reported an anonymous source as claiming that the Simpang Renggam MP’s resignation was to do with a purported plan to reopen the KSCIP.
Maszlee has also responded to the claim and denied it, going on to label the assertion as slanderous.
The controversial centre was launched here during the previous Barisan Nasional administration and discontinued after Pakatan Harapan came to power.
MORE TO COME