Maszlee denies Dr M removed him for attempting to reopen King Salman Centre

PETALING JAYA: Dr Maszlee Malik has refuted accusations that he attempted to reopen the King Salman Centre for International Peace (KSCIP), and this was the last straw for Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who moved to dismiss him as Education Minister.

"This is slander.

"There never was any discussion on the King Salman Centre for International Peace (KSCIP) when I was the Education Minister.

"In fact, what has that got to do with the Education Ministry?

"Everyone can check with the people in the Education Ministry. All my work is in the reports and is recorded," he said on his Twitter account on Tuesday (Jan 7).

Maszlee was responding to a report by online news portal which claimed that his attempts to reopen KSCIP became the tipping point that led to Dr Mahathir demanding his resignation.

According to the report, Dr Mahathir was infuriated when he had heard that Maszlee was behind plans to restart the centre.

In 2017, former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak announced plans for the centre on a 16-ha plot of land in Putrajaya during Saudi King Salman Abdul Aziz's visit to Malaysia in 2017.

The formation of the centre was purportedly aimed at checking extremism and terrorism but came under criticism from Pakatan Harapan leaders who questioned Saudi Arabia's credentials due to its doctrine of Wahhabism.

Following Pakatan's victory in the May 9 general election, the plan to build the Saudi-backed centre was cancelled.

Maszlee said he no longer held any post, was no longer a minister and was now just an ordinary citizen.

"I urge for such slander to be stopped immediately by whoever that is behind it. I plead for the media to please check the authenticity of such news before it is published," he said.