MEMBAKUT, Jan 3 — Former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak today suggested that Maszlee Malik’s resignation as education minister is a clear sign that there are internal problems within the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government.
Commenting on the resignation, Najib said the unexpected announcement by Maszlee clearly shows there are issues within the new government.
“(He) actually was asked by the PM to resign, he didn’t resign on his own, because of internal and external pressure.
“This is because of issues faced by the Education Ministry that shows the dissatisfaction of people and other parties within PH and they want him to resign,” he said.
Najib declined to speculate on future potential resignations when asked by reporters.
Yesterday, Maszlee announced he was resigning from his post as education minister after a meeting with Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
Mere hours after announcing his resignation, an online petition was launched urging Dr Mahathir to reinstate Maszlee as education minister, with over 355,000 signatures in support of the call at the time of writing.
The petitioner by the name Tuah Kencana wrote that despite Maszlee’s contributions, his efforts were overshadowed by unfavourable reports, which he claimed were “sensationalised by parties with a vested interest”.
The petitioner also listed a string of initiatives accomplished by Maszlee in his less-than-two-year stint as education minister, accompanied by the #SupportMaszleee hashtag below the petition on change.org.
