Maszlee bin Malik (Jawi: مزلي بن مالک), is a Malaysian politician who has served as Chairman of the International Institute of Advanced Islamic Studies (IAIS) since March 2023.[1] He served as the Minister of Education in the Pakatan Harapan (PH) administration under former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad from May 2018 to his resignation in January 2020, 7th President of the International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM) from September 2018 to his resignation in November 2018, and the Member of Parliament (MP) for Simpang Renggam from May 2018 to November 2022.[2] He is a member and Division Chief of Simpang Renggam of the People's Justice Party (PKR), a component party of the PH coalition, and professor at the psychology and social sciences faculty at the University of Cyberjaya. He was an independent politician, and a member of the Malaysian United Indigenous Party (BERSATU), then a component party of the PH coalition, as well as a lecturer at the IIUM.[3]
Background
Malik was born in Johor Bahru, Johor, in 1974. He is of Hakka Chinese and Bugis descent.[4] Malik attended the English College and earned a bachelor's degree in Islamic Jurisprudence from University of Al-Bayt and a master's degree in the same field from the University of Malaya. He obtained a doctorate in Political Science from Durham University. His PhD thesis was titled "Constructing the Architectonics and Formulating the Articulation of Islamic Governance: A Discursive Attempt in Islamic Epistemology".[5] He speaks Malay, Arabic, English, French, German, Mandarin Chinese, and Hokkien.[6]
Maszlee made his political debut by registering as a member of the People's Justice Party (PKR) Ampang branch in 2017.[7] Later he joined another Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition's component party, the Malaysian United Indigenous Party (BERSATU) in March 2018, ahead of the 2018 general election (GE14) which he won against incumbent Liang Teck Meng for the Simpang Renggam constituency.[6] On 18 May 2018, Maszlee was appointed as Malaysia's new Minister of Education after Prime Minister Tun Mahathir Mohamad vacated the post just one day after taking it.[8] After some 20 months of his appointment, he rendered the ministerial position in January 2020 to the Prime Minister as requested by the latter.[9]
His BERSATU membership was canceled in May 2020 after the collapse of the PH government following the party's decision to leave PH in the so-called 'Sheraton Move' 2020 political crisis and he became an Independent MP.[10] After being a PH-friendly independent for over a year, he rejoined PKR and PH again in November 2021.[3]
In the Malaysian 15th general election in November 2022, Maszlee lost his Simpang Renggam seat to Hasni Mohammad, the former Johor menteri besar. Hasni polled 18,312 votes to Maszlee's 16,491 for a 1,821-vote majority.[11]
After the Malaysian 15th general election, due to his loss in Simpang Renggam, Maszlee was without any government and official position. He was later appointed as a Professor at the University of Cyberjaya, to give lectures on selected topics in humanities and education-related subjects at the 'Psychology and Social Sciences Faculty' in April 2023.[12] He was also appointed by the Prime Minister as the chairman of an Islamic think tank called 'International Institute of Advanced Islamic Studies' (IAIS), to advise the Prime Minister on Global Muslims Affairs.[13]
^ ab会说简单华语福建话‧教长马智礼有华人血统 [Able to speak simple Chinese and Hokkien language, Education Minister Maszlee have Chinese Descent]. sinchew.com.ny (in Chinese (Malaysia)).
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