KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 7 — Several Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (PPBM) leaders have come to the defence of Deputy Foreign Minister Datuk Marzuki Yahya, who yesterday admitted that his degree came from the questionable “Cambridge International University”.

Party supreme council member Tariq Ismail Mustafa even downplayed Marzuki’s previous fabrication claiming his degree was from the prestigious University of Cambridge, saying at least the latter did not rape or steal.

“Having a dubious degree or not having graduated can be a stigma, but as long as people don’t rape or steal it is fine,” Tariq was quoted as telling The Star.

“From his humility and hard work, I’d hire the one from fake Cambridge. The real Cambridge, I’d throw them in the river because they think they own the world and the world has to continuously chase them.”

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Meanwhile, party deputy president Datuk Seri Mukhriz Mahathir insisted Marzuki had never claimed he was a Cambridge graduate.

According to the Kedah mentri besar, it was “unfortunate” that the institution from which Marzuki received his certificate and the one in the United Kingdom shared the same name.

“I’m sure he was not picked to be a deputy minister on the supposed merit of his brandishing a Cambridge University degree,” Mukhriz reportedly said.

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“As far as I know, he never declared he was supposedly a Cambridge University graduate. That only came out in Wikipedia.”

Despite Mukhriz’s claim, Marzuki had earlier this week been quoted by state news agency Bernama as saying that he would produce proof he had pursued a degree in business administration at the University of Cambridge.

No other PPBM leaders have commented on the issue. Malay Mail’s attempt to seek further comments were not entertained.

Earlier this week, political activist Muhsin Abdul Latheef lodged a police report over a Facebook account holder’s claim in a February 3 post that the University of Cambridge did not offer a distance-learning programme in business administration that Marzuki claims to have pursued.

Marzuki, who is the Penang chairman of PPBM, had then brushed aside the claim as another usual irritation in his political journey.