Maszlee Malik

Maszlee bin Malik (Jawi: , born 1974) is a Malaysian politician who has served as a Member of the Johor State Legislative Assembly (MLA) for Puteri Wangsa since July 2026. He has also served Chairman of the International Institute of Advanced Islamic Studies (IAIS) since March 2023.

He served as the Minister of Education in the Pakatan Harapan (PH) administration under former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad from May 2018 until January 2020, and was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Simpang Renggam from May 2018 to November 2022. He briefly held the position of President of the International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM) from September 2018 to November 2018.

A member of the People's Justice Party (PKR), he holds the position of Division Chief of Simpang Renggam. Prior to that, he was a member of the Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (BERSATU). He is also professor at the University of Cyberjaya's psychology and social sciences faculty.

Background Maszlee bin Malik was born in Johor Bahru, Johor, in 1974. He is of Malays, Hakka Chinese and Bugis descent. Maszlee attended the English College and obtained a bachelor's degree in Islamic Jurisprudence from the 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". He speaks Malay, Arabic, English, French, German, Mandarin, and very simple Hokkien.

Career

Academia Maszlee taught at the International Islamic University Malaysia.

Politics Maszlee made his political debut by registering as a member of the People's Justice Party (PKR) Ampang branch in 2017. 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. After 20 months of his appointment, he resigned from the ministerial position in January 2020 as requested by the Prime Minister.

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' during the 2020 political crisis. He then became an independent MP. After being a PH-friendly independent for over a year, he rejoined PKR and PH again in November 2021.

After the loss in the Malaysian 15th general election, he was 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. He was also appointed by the Prime Minister as the chairman of an Islamic think tank called the 'International Institute of Advanced Islamic Studies' (IAIS) to advise the Prime Minister on Global Muslim Affairs.

In the 2026 Johor state election, Maszlee contested and won the seat of Puteri Wangsa, beating out incumbment Amira Aisya Abdul Aziz.

Election results + Parliament of Malaysia YearConstituencyCandidateVotesPctOpponent(s)VotesPctBallots castMajorityTurnout2018 P151 (BERSATU) 18,15750.68% Liang Teck Meng (GERAKAN) 14,682 40.11% 36,6013,47583.19%Mohd Jubri Selamat (PAS)2,9838.15%2022 (PKR)16,49137.37% (UMNO)18,31241.49%44,1311,82174.76%Mohd Fazrul Kamat (BERSATU)9,07720.57%Kamal Kusmin (PEJUANG)2510.57%

+ Johor State Legislative Assembly YearConstituencyCandidateVotesPctOpponent(s)VotesPctBallots castMajorityTurnout 2022 N27 Layang-Layang (PKR)4,73634.50% (UMNO)7,55155.00%13,7292,81554.59%Alagenthiran Krishnan (BERSATU)1,2789.31%Ahmad Shafiq Othman (PEJUANG)1641.19% 2026 N41 Puteri Wangsa (PKR)41,82148.44% (MCA)36,07741.78%86,3445,74467.62%Rashifa Aljunied (MUDA)5,8876.82%Nicholas Paul Vincent (BERSAMA)2,3322.70%Wang Wee Szong (Independent)2270.26%

Honours

Filmography

Film Year Title Role Notes 2021 Taruh Prisoner 237 Short film 2022 Kudeta Jamal Banna Serial drama