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PUTRAJAYA: The appointment of the new Education Minister will ultimately be decided by the Prime Minister, says Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

“It is my prerogative as (Prime Minister). I will decide on who will replace Dr Maszlee Malik,” he said after chairing the special cabinet committee on anti-corruption Tuesday.

Dr Mahathir said there were reasons that made him felt it was necessary for Maszlee to step down.

“I’m not saying that he did everything wrong. There were some things he did that were right. But because of some other reasons, I felt it was necessary for him to resign, and he agreed,” he said.

Dr Mahathir, however, did not elaborate on what those “other reasons” were.

Maszlee announced his resignation on Jan 2.

Meanwhile, Dr Maszlee has refuted accusations that he attempted to reopen the King Salman Centre for International Peace (KSCIP), and this was the last straw for Dr Mahathir.

“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.

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.