Twitter user exposes edits on Marzuki’s Wikipedia page over Cambridge credentials

GEORGE TOWN, 5 Feb -- Timbalan Menteri Luar, Datuk Marzuki Yahya menjawab soalan wakil media mengenai dakwaan beliau menipu rakyat di negara ini berhubung latar belakang pendidikannya ketika ditemui selepas menghadiri majlis rumah terbuka Tahun Baharu Cina anjuran Menteri Kewangan bersama Dewan Perniagaan Tionghua Pulau Pinang di Setia Spice Convention Centre hari ini. --fotoBERNAMA (2019) HAK CIPTA TERPELIHARA

PETALING JAYA: A Twitter user is asking why the Wikipedia page of Deputy Foreign Minister Marzuki Yahya has been edited a few times recently.

“Someone's been busy editing Deputy Foreign Minister and (Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia) secretary-general Marzuki Yahya's Wikipedia page over the past 24 hours,” posted the user with the handle Aisehman.

“Cambridge University was changed to Cambridge International University and now there's no mention of his education at all.

“What's going on?” tweeted Aisehman, who was an anonymous and prominent political blogger in the early 2000s.

— Aisehman (@Aisehman) February 6, 2019

A check by The Star found that Marzuki's Wikipedia page was edited at about 6am on Wednesday (Feb 6). The recent edit omitted his alma mater and details on his education.

A previous edit on the page, dated Jan 26, 2019, listed Marzuki's alma mater as “University of Cambridge”.

There was an entry on his education background, reading: “Marzuki completed his early education in Butterworth, Penang and holds a Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration from the University of Cambridge.”

On Monday (Feb 4), political activist Muhsin Abdul Latheef lodged a police report over Marzuki’s claim of having pursued a distance learning programme at Cambridge.

Meanwhile, Marzuki, who is also Penang Bersatu chairman, decried the edits to his academic credentials on his Wikipedia page.

"Anyone can edit. Someone has evil intentions. I don't even know what happened," he was quoted as saying by Malaysiakini.

On its introduction page, Wikipedia says anyone can edit almost any page though changes are recorded in the article histories and recent changes fields on the page.