KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 9 ― MCA president Datuk Seri Wee Ka Siong has questioned the authenticity of Datuk Marzuki Yahya’s Cambridge International University (CIU) transcript, claiming that it was similar to a template posted on the alleged degree mill’s website.
On his Facebook page last night, Wee pointed out that the deputy foreign minister had scored exactly the same grade point average in the same nine subjects in the US-based university’s template transcript.
“There are three possibilities why this can happen:
Possibility 1: This is an extraordinary coincidence. Even harder to find that us winning the first prize in Sports Toto.
Possibility 2: University which has long been in doubt by many, sends the same results to all “graduates” who pay fees.
Possibility 3: Bro, how long did it take to copy/paste/edit?” Wee said.
Wee posted a picture of the template next to the transcript Marzuki had shared on his Facebook earlier last night.
Earlier this week, political activist Muhsin Abdul Latheef had 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 Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (PPBM) secretary-general, had then brushed aside the claim as another usual irritation in his political journey.
On Wednesday, he finally admitted that he took the distance-learning programme from CIU, instead of the renowned Cambridge.
Following calls for his resignation for allegedly misleading the public on his academic qualification, Marzuki said on Facebook last night that he was leaving it to Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and the PPBM leadership to decide if he should remain a deputy minister.
Marzuki explained that when he applied for the distance-learning certificate 17 years ago he did not think about the accreditation issue, and did not foresee that he would be part of the government in the future.
“Truthfully and sincerely I have never intended to use my academic qualifications to confuse anyone. This is because my original intent to study 17 years ago was to gain knowledge in the field of business.
“At that time, it has never crossed my mind that one day I would be in my current position as a government administration staff,” he said in a statement on his Facebook page.
He also insisted that he has never promoted himself as a University of Cambridge graduate but a Cambridge International University (CIU) one, and he was not responsible for claiming the former in his Wikipedia page.
Despite Marzuki’s assertion, state news agency Bernama had in a profile of Pakatan Harapan’s new senators in July last year reported that he holds a “Bachelor’s degree in business administration, majoring in logistics via a long-distance learning programme at the University of Cambridge”.
Bernama had also quoted Marzuki as saying earlier this week that he would show proof of his Cambridge certificate, when his credentials were questioned.
Marzuki claimed that when he took his course in 2002 before completing it in 2005, most Malaysians and others worldwide have never had a widespread discourse on university accreditation, any ranking systems or list of “bogus universities”.
“When I found out about the course offered by CIU that was related to my business field, I registered without paying any attention to the accreditation aspect of the courses offered,” he said.
