Umno supreme council member Mohd Puad Zarkashi has refuted claims that he is under orders to ‘attack’ ex-boss Muhyiddin Yassin.
In a Facebook posting last Wednesday, Mohd Puad, put up photographs showing broken tables still being used by primary school students in Keningau, Sabah.
He also criticised the education ministry for their inaction, calling its minister Muhyiddin and his three deputies as “ too lazy to go to the ground”.
Mohd Puad, who was a deputy education minister, has had to defend himself since, denying that he is taking part in the proxy battle for Umno’s top leadership.
He has rubbished the claim by former information minister Zainuddin Maidin (photo) in a blog post which accused him of operating under the order of Communications and Multimedia Minister Ahmad Shabery Cheek as “false”.
"I ask Zam (Zainuddin) to prove his allegation. Surely he doesn’t want to be remembered as the ex-information minister who did not speak much sense in an interview with Al-Jazeera several years ago," he said to his latest critic in a statement yesterday.
He was referring to the infamous interview Zaiduddin had given to Al-Jazeera in which he said police had ‘allowed’ protesters at the first Bersih rally in 2007 to march to Istana Negara to hand over their memo.
"This is seen as the start of an open war between Muhyiddin and Najib's supporters following Muhyiddin's veiled attack against Najib (over the 1MDB issue)," Zainuddin said on his blog yesterday.
'Najib loyalist'
Zainuddin also said that in the last Supreme Council meeting, Mohd Puad was among those who were vocal in supporting Najib while Muhyiddin was giving stern warning about the people's concerns regarding 1MDB.
Mohd Puad said he brought up the issue because as an Umno Supreme Council member, it is his responsibility to respond to "people’s sufferings and complaints".
The newly appointed director-general of the Special Affairs Department (Jasa), who took over in March, also denied that the department is roped in by Ahmad Shabery in a campaign to discredit Muhyiddin.
Jasa, he added, is not involved in spreading a controversial video of Muhyiddin addressing an Umno grassroots meeting.
The video, which appeared on the Apanama blog owned by former New Straits Times editor Firdaus Abdullah, contained footage of Muhyiddin's speech calling for the sacking of the 1MDB board of directors at a closed-door Umno event.
Mohd Puad also denied that he made the statement against the Education Minister in his capacity as Jasa chief.
He said it is unfair for Zainuddin to have no qualms about criticisms against the prime minister on the 1MDB issue but disregards criticisms about the "poor state of schools" which is also a public interest matter.
He said Zainuddin should not have asked everyone to "shut their mouths" even if that was his habit as the information minister.
"As an experienced journalist, Zam should explain what is the real issue regarding the leaked video. Is it the dissemination of the video or the content of the speech? Everyone knows the DPM’s stand on 1MDB, based on his statement in Milan, Italy .
"Zam cannot practice double standards and allow the PM to be criticised in the 1MDB issue but zips up his mouth when it comes to issues raised by the people, especially about education," he said in the statement.
Don't defend what cannot be defended
He also continued on his sudden crusade to better education facilities in rural areas, by yet again posting about it on social media this afternoon.
Ekoran pendedahan saya, KPM telah mengarahkankan semua JPN Sabah/ Sarawak/ seluruh negara melaporkan kedaifan sekolah2...
Posted by DrPuad Zarkashi on Sunday, May 24, 2015
He noted that the Education Ministry has instructed all state education departments to report the dire state of the schools in their states.
"(This is) after my expose [...] That's good, don't defend what cannot be defended," he said.
He also uploaded a picture of him on a rudimentary bamboo bridge while on a site visit to Sarawak as deputy education minister in the last term.
"Surely, we don't want students in rural Sarawak like in this picture to continue using bamboo bridges. It's dangerous," he said.
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