KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 26 — Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi asserted today he had slogged to earn his doctorate rather than just pay cash for it.

The Umno vice-president said his Ph.D was for a dissertation he had written on conventional media communications and how it shaped public perception during the general elections under the 22-year rule of then prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

It is uncertain what prompted the federal minister to raise the issue during his speech at the launch of a book symposium at the Putra World Trade Centre here, but Ahmad Zahid said he would prove to the public that he was a capable academic by taking up a challenge to produce a book on his dissertation by a Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka official.

“The dean of UPM communications faculty is here, the UPM chancellor is here. They bear witness that I did my own research. They know that I did not buy my doctorate,” he said, referring to Universiti Putra Malaysia, where he was awarded his post-graduate degree.

But Ahmad Zahid also said his dissertation may not be too relevant today given the advent of social media as the new mainstream.

Ahmad Zahid's academic background has in the past been subjected to scrutiny by opposition lawmakers who said the occasionally controversial remarks the minister makes were uncharacteristic for a PhD holder.

He has also been criticised over his purportedly poor command of English, with DAP’s Lim Kit Siang once calling it “embarrassing” and not befitting a doctorate graduate.

But Ahmad Zahid has repeatedly maintained that he had earned his PhD.

Today, he urged Malaysian academics to focus on producing more quality but marketable books as part of efforts to strengthen the country's intelligentsia.

He also said although DBP had only made a verbal offer to produce his book, he is more than prepared to prove his academic ability by producing a book on a subject he had researched while pursuing his doctorate.