COMMENT | Has Zafrul already hit the campaign trail?
In Malaysia, there is seldom smoke without fire, and his refusal to nix persistent rumours in the bud about his potential candidature as a member of parliament for Kuala Selangor just adds fuel to the fire.
His special, sudden interest in Kuala Selangor, including the announcement of Puncak Alam in the district as a station for the controversial East Coast Rail Link (ECRL) which connects Kota Bharu and Kuantan to Port Klang, has fanned the embers into a raging flame.
As if this was not bad enough, he went one step further to announce the “adoption” of the Kuala Selangor district by the Finance Ministry, a ridiculous scheme unheard of previously in a country where we have many strange machinations going on all the time.
The finance minister simply cannot display bias...
COMMENT | Speculation is that Finance Minister Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz might stand for a parliamentary seat in Kuala Selangor under an Umno ticket, and recent events have put him in a pickle, eliciting responses from Umno leaders that he should focus on the economy.
In Malaysia, there is seldom smoke without fire, and his refusal to nix persistent rumours in the bud about his potential candidature as a member of parliament for Kuala Selangor just adds fuel to the fire.
His special, sudden interest in Kuala Selangor, including the announcement of Puncak Alam in the district as a station for the controversial East Coast Rail Link (ECRL) which connects Kota Bharu and Kuantan to Port Klang, has fanned the embers into a raging flame.
As if this was not bad enough, he went one step further to announce the “adoption” of the Kuala Selangor district by the Finance Ministry, a ridiculous scheme unheard of previously in a country where we have many strange machinations going on all the time.
The finance minister simply cannot display bias for any particular area at all. By virtue of his office, the whole of Malaysia becomes his concern and deserves all his attention, not just a particular place which captures his fancy at any point in time.
Here’s what he said: “Personally, I am a little sentimental with the Kuala Selangor district. There are many local potentials that can be developed and highlighted.”
After saying that, he added that the ministry does not favour any particular district. Really?
Then why did he announce that an ECRL station would be located at Puncak Alam? That’s not a decision that he should make but for the professionals who run ECRL, depending on whether there is an economic reason for that. They are the ones who should make the announcement.
If a station is located in Klang, in Meru, for instance, there may be sufficient justification because Klang has a large population catchment which may give additional ridership to the ECRL. But Puncak Alam - just because it catches the particular fancy of the finance minister right now? Surely not.
By making a premature announcement on this, Zafrul usurps the power of Malaysia Rail Link (MRL), the special purpose vehicle wholly owned by his ministry, which owns the ECRL project, which should be given the independence and injected with professional people to make the right commercial decisions.
Remember what happened when one of Zafrul’s predecessors interfered and controlled a self-styled national development company, also wholly owned by the Finance Ministry, 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB), casting aside objections and questions from staff, directors and the public. It resulted in estimated losses of at least RM42 billion before taking into account opportunity costs.
We do not want a repeat of that at ECRL, a massive, controversial project costing some RM44 billion before cost escalations and whose viability is already in serious question and should have been terminated, as I have highlighted here, here and here.
Political announcement
Instead of trying to focus on how to reduce costs at ECRL and strive his best to at least reduce operating costs and thereby the inevitable losses at ECRL, he makes a political announcement of an ill-conceived station at Puncak Alam on a personal whim and which will add needlessly to the already high costs of the ECRL.
This is from a finance minister who has been billed as a technocrat from the corporate sector who will bring about badly needed reform to the economy and the financial sector and make positive changes at the ministry. Instead, he has proven himself to be a two-bit aspiring politician like the rest of them.
Further, he refuses to confirm or deny whether he is standing at Kuala Selangor, saying that he is too busy concentrating on his job. But not so busy since he has time to poke his fingers into ECRL and approve a station in a constituency in which he might stand instead of getting on with his job.
There is much to do - both the ringgit and confidence are at all-time lows, the current government is more concerned with winning the next elections instead of providing leadership, and there is no discernible solid economic plan going forward.
There is no broad consultation with industry, academics and other interested parties. Instead, some cronies who are in the thick of certain projects and therefore are not independent seem to be tapped over and over again.
Zafrul can help in all these areas as a technocrat who has been brought in from the finance sector. He was the CEO of one of Malaysia’s largest banks - the CIMB Group. But he has failed miserably to inject any form of professionalism within his own ministry and is now playing plain politics.
The legitimate question then is whether Zafrul has already hit the campaign trail. If he indeed announces that he is standing at Kuala Selangor, then the next question to ask is whether he has compromised himself and election laws by announcing the location of an ECRL station within his constituency.
If indeed he has, then he should be disqualified as a candidate for Kuala Selangor, and the full weight of the law should be brought forth to bear upon him.
Already sections within Umno have taken umbrage at him over a possible entry to politics - Zafrul was appointed a senator to take up the finance minister’s position. No less than an Umno vice-president has chastised him.
According to a report, Mohamed Khaled Nordin told him to focus on the economy instead of pursuing an apparent political campaign in Kuala Selangor - good advice.
He added that the Treasury did not need to “adopt” any parliamentary constituency, describing it as a confusing move amid more pressing matters.
Earlier, Kuala Selangor Umno division chief Jahaya Ibrahim called on members to reject programmes involving Zafrul in the wake of talk the finance minister was eyeing the Kuala Selangor parliamentary seat in the next general election.
If Tengku Zafrul does not have what it takes to mobilise resources and people to take the economy back on a sustainable growth path as a true technocrat should do, then he should simply spare the country and himself the pain and step aside instead of prolonging his stay through political manoeuvring.
That would be the honourable thing to do.
P GUNASEGARAM, a former editor at online and print news publications, and head of equity research, is an independent writer and analyst.
The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.
