“There have been criticisms of Maszlee as the education minister, but let us give the 44-year-old academician the chance to prove his suitability for the important post of education minister of a new Malaysia,” said Lim.
He also warned Malaysians to check on the veracity of messages and video clips circulating on social media, including one accusing Maszlee of making racist statements.
“Since yesterday, a video clip of a ‘fanatic’ had been circulated on social media with the suggestion that recipients should forward it to as many as possible so as to reach Tun before he became the education minister,” he said, referring to Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
Since the former lecturer was named by Mahathir for the post, critics and rights activists have alleged that Maszlee was a supporter of fugitive Indian preacher Dr Zakir Naik.
There has been strong support for an online petition which had initially targetted a modest 2,500 signatures, urging Mahathir to hold the education portfolio because he would “bring much needed reforms to the education system in this country”.
At 1pm today, the petition is just about 2,000 signatures away from achieving its revised target of 75,000.
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Former associate not surprised by protests over Maszlee as education minister