Instead, he asked reporters where they got the information on the said memo.
“I’m not sure, where did you get the information? I was here (Parliament) the entire day, so I’m not sure.
“I have to ask first, because we are taking steps to cut down on spending and newspapers today, you can read them online, no?” he said at the Parliament lobby.
Maszlee’s special adviser Wan Saiful Wan Jan was reported to have submitted the memo to the ministry’s secretary-general Mohd Ghazali Abas.
“I have to ask Wan Saiful because it (the memo) is written in his name, right?” he said.
The memo dated July 18 that was sighted by FMT urged all schools, colleges, universities and agencies under the ministry to immediately terminate subscription of the Umno-linked paper.
Utusan is known to have served as Umno’s mouthpiece for decades. Recently, there was speculation about its future following Barisan Nasional’s defeat in the May 9 general election.
Utusan’s funding had largely come from government projects, including a controversial contract to supply more than 180,000 tablets to teachers nationwide.
Meanwhile, former Umno minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob said the instruction to cease subscription of Utusan showed the government was still acting like the opposition.
“They are still behaving like an opposition although they are the government now.
“If they are really an open government, they would allow everyone to read any newspaper, be it Utusan, Berita Harian or The Star,” he said while campaigning in Sungai Kandis.
Ismail said the government should not consider those who did not support them as their enemies. He said the government should allow the people to read any newspaper as they could evaluate the news themselves.
He said the move to cease Utusan’s subscription was akin to curbing press freedom.
“They have been opposing Utusan since they were the opposition.
“What is there to be scared about? Moreover, now they are in power.
“If we see, Utusan’s reports are very fair, where we can see news from both sides. But the government should not be like this.”
Commenting on the upcoming by-election in Sungai Kandis, Ismail hoped that PAS members in the constituency would give their support.
“This is because I believe that the tagline used by PAS, which is ‘as long as it is not Harapan’, also applies to us.
“So, with the same tagline, I think we know what it means.”