Dr Maszlee dismisses cabinet reshuffle rumour as diversion created by Opposition

KUALA LUMPUR: Education Minister Dr Maszlee Malik (pic) has rubbished speculations of a purported cabinet reshuffle taking place next year, claiming that it’s a rumour created by the Opposition to divert public attention from the “real issues”. 

“This is one of the Opposition cyber troopers trying to divert the public from the 'real issues'. It’s just rumours," he told reporters when met at the Parliament lobby on Nov 13 (Tuesday). 

According to Dr Maszlee, the “real issues” are ongoing corruption charges and investigations involving several high-profile Opposition leaders, such as former premier Datuk Seri Najib Razak and Umno President Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, among others. 

“I would like to reiterate that it (cabinet reshuffle rumour) was done by the Opposition as a smokescreen, a diversion and red herring from the real issue. 

“The real issue is that somebody will go inside (jail) soon,” he said, adding that several former ministers from the last Barisan Nasional administration are also set to "face the music" in future. 

On Sunday, a source told The Star that Dr Mahathir is set to address the issue of underperforming ministries by the first quarter of 2019.

At the same time, Dr Maszlee claimed that Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad has tasked him to revamp the national school curriculum. 

“Doesn’t make any sense that he told me to revamp (the national school curriculum), which will take up the entire term of Parliament and he is going to reshuffle it,” he said. 

“Everybody is safe,” he added. 

According to the Simpang Renggam MP, he and Dr Mahathir had met sometime last week, and the 93-year-old expressed his vision to revamp the national school curriculum. 

Dr Maszlee said he will be organising a future meeting involving Dr Mahathir and officials from the National Education Advisory Council to carry out the future revamp. 

“Dr Mahathir was the Education Minister in 1971. So, he has a lot of things in mind that he wants to implement. Especially to reform the culture and mindset of Malaysians. 

“He (Dr Mahathir) always spoke about good values and working hard. He thought that it has yet to succeed, that’s why he wanted the Education Minister post at first,” he claimed. 

But, because Dr Mahathir couldn’t become Education Minister (due to a Pakatan Harapan manifesto promise that one person can't hold multiple Cabinet posts), Dr Maszlee said he was needed to replace him.

"So he did ask me to continue his struggle to change the minds of Malaysians, make them more hardworking and have good values like the Japanese,” he added.