Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Wee Ka Siong last night denied confirming that the Public Service Department (JPA) scholarships have been suspended.

Instead, he pointed the finger at the media for making such claims about the controversial education funding cut that has outraged the nation.

"The issue of the purported JPA (scholarship) suspension had been reported for some days in the media quoting concerned parents and students on the issue.

"I had not announced the suspension nor did I confirm it," he said in a Facebook posting last night.

Wee said he had merely raised this matter with the cabinet following the complaints to find a solution, particularly from JPA.

"In response, Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak has immediately instructed the chief secretary to the government and the JPA to study and submit a report to the cabinet next week," he said.

Wee accused Malaysiakini of misquoting a Sin Chew Daily report in which he commented on the JPA scholarship issue.

" Malaysiakini had neglected to contact me in order to perform a simple fact check for that article.

"The portal had instead misquoted a report by Sin Chew Daily to whom I have made my comments on the issue.

"I cannot be held responsible if my comments are distorted," he said in his posting.

In the report on Tuesday , Wee said he had raised the issue with Najib and urged Putrajaya to reinstate the JPA scholarships.

Wee was yesterday morning asked by KiniTV at a press conference to elaborate on the scholarship suspension but refused.

“ Malaysiakini has written about it, what else is there to comment.

“You ask JPA lah, okay. Don’t ask me about JPA.

“Ask JPA for further confirmation (on) whatever new things that they want to introduce,” he was quoted as saying in Putrajaya.