PUTRAJAYA: Dr Maszlee Malik did not resign as Education Minister because he committed errors.
In stating this, Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad today made it clear that there were other reasons that led to the resignation of the Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) minister.
"By now, the letter I wrote to him (Maszlee) has been made public by some irresponsible people.
"I am not saying that he did everything wrong. There were some things that he did right.
"But, because of the other reasons, I felt it was necessary for him to resign and he agreed. So, he resigned," Dr Mahathir told reporters after chairing the Special Committee on Anti-Corruption meeting, here, today.
The Malaysian Insight (TMI) had reported that a 17-paragraph letter, which it had sighted noted that Dr Maszlee had failed to listen to advice and had on several occasions had gone against Cabinet decisions.
The letter was reportedly sent to Maszlee's office on Dec 27 and was written by Dr Mahathir.
According to TMI, some of Dr Maszlee's "failures" were stated in the letter, among them was his failure to follow advice on the Jawi issue, free Internet for schools as well as the free breakfast programme for students.
It was also allegedly mentioned that Dr Maszlee was against splitting the education and higher education portfolios.
TMI said the letter ended with Dr Mahathir requesting Dr Maszlee to "withdraw from the Cabinet".
Asked if one of the reasons was because Dr Maszlee wanted to restart the King Salman centre, Dr Mahathir, who looked perplexed, denied it.
"No, nothing to do with that," said the prime minister.
Another news portal Free Malaysia Today had reported that the prime minister was upset when he learned that Dr Maszlee was behind the plan to reopen the King Salman centre, a Saudi Arabian-backed anti-terrorism centre.
To a question, Dr Mahathir said he would choose the right candidate for the now vacant post of Education Minister.
"This will be decided by me because it is my prerogative," he said.
Last Thursday, Dr Maszlee announced that he relinquished his ministerial post back to the prime minister.