‘Maszlee has done his best’

KUCHING: Former education minister Dr Maszlee Malik has been doing his best when he was in office but he probably lacked political strength, said Batu Lintang assemblyman See Chee How.

See implied that the recent announcement on Maszlee’s resignation may have been caused by dissatisfaction among various parties, but he believed Maszlee has done his best for schools and its students nationwide.

“Maszlee is actually a hardworking person. We cannot blame him for anything as he’s pretty much an academician and probably lacks a more political way of handling things.

“You can’t please everybody. There will be people who will not be happy with this or that,” he told reporters after officiating at a back-to-school programme held at SK St Andrew in Jalan Sungai Apong here, yesterday.

See who is also the Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) Sarawak vice-chairman, further stated that within the short one year (last year), Maszlee flew to the state at least three times out of concern for the dilapidated schools.

“He asked us to give him a list of dilapidated schools which are of priority so that he can visit the school to see the critical situation himself,” he added.

At the same time, See also mentioned that as of yesterday morning, about 300,000 people have signed an online petition in favour of Maszlee to be retained as the education minister at change.org.

“It’s quite difficult but I think he makes a great academician and he belongs in the intellectual circles. By doing that, he will excel,” he said.

On Thursday, Maszlee announced his resignation from his post after consulting with Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

He had faced months of resistance and criticism indicating that he had underperformed, and is the first minister to leave his post since the Pakatan Harapan coalition came to power in May 2018.