Johor's Chief Minister Osman Sapian is being accused by the Johor Umno Youth group of falsifying his academic credentials.

Johor Umno Youth's information chief Johan Azam Mohd Yasin said in a statement on Feb. 8 that Osman should "clear his name over the allegations by showing his original degree obtained from Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM)".

In the statement, Johan Azam accused Osman of lying about his credentials:

"How can someone lie about their academic qualifications and ask the rakyat to respect them as a leader with credibility?"

Johan Azam further called for Sapian to step down as chief minister if he does not come out to prove the authenticity of his accounting degree from UPM.

Smiled

The New Straits Times (NST) reported that the chief minister merely smiled when asked about these allegations.

Osman, who is also Johor's Pakatan Harapan chairman, was attending a Chinese New Year function in Kulai, Malaysia on Feb. 9 when reporters had asked him to respond to the allegations that he did not hold an accounting degree from UPM.

According to NST, Osman "only smiled to newsmen when asked to comment on the allegations" and immediately left the function.

Refused to be drawn in

The Star contacted Osman and pressed him for a response.

Osman told the paper that he refused to be drawn in to the issue, did not want to be involved in the matter and said, "“It’s OK, even Datuk Marzuki was hit by it".

Marzuki Yahya is Malaysia's Deputy Foreign Minister.

Academic credentials controversy

Marzuki was the first of several high profile Pakatan Harapan politicians involved in the academic credentials controversy.

Malaysian political activist Muhsin Abdul Latheef made a police report in early February after coming across a Facebook post questioning the legitimacy of Marzuki’s Cambridge University degree.

Muhsin pointed out that the post showed Marzuki's Wikipedia page claiming that he obtained a degree from Cambridge via “long-distance learning”.

Marzuki later clarified his degree from “Cambridge University” was not obtained from the University of Cambridge in the UK, but supposedly the U.S.-based Cambridge International University (CIU).

CIU’s distance learning program is not accredited by the U.S. Department of Education, according to the institute itself.

But members of Marzuki's political party, the Parti Pribumi Malaysia Bersatu (PPBM), are sticking up for him.

Tariq Ismail, a member of PPBM’s supreme council, defended Marzuki and said, "having a dubious degree or not having graduated can be a stigma, but as long as people don’t rape or steal, it is fine".

Not first controversy for Osman

In a span of a month, the Johor chief minister has made headlines several times for his controversial actions.

Most recently, he had boarded a Malaysian vessel in Singapore's territorial waters, which Malaysia was disputing, despite his federal government committing to resolve the bilateral issues with Singapore peacefully and calmly a day before on Jan. 8.

His provocative action prompted Singapore to postpone the annual Joint Ministerial Committee (JMC) for Iskandar Malaysia meeting as a response to the actions of Osman.

Osman had claimed he had received unofficial blessing from the Malaysian foreign affairs ministry to visit the Malaysian vessel MV Pedoman anchored in Singapore waters on Jan. 9.

The foreign ministry was quick to clarify that no such approval was given to Osman. It added that ministry officials had repeatedly tried to contact Osman to stop him from boarding the vessel.

Top image from Osman Sapian's Facebook page