Tourism Minister Mohd Nazri Abdul Aziz has confirmed the he was the one who appointed his predecessor Dr Ng Yen Yen to the Malaysian Tourism Promotion Board (MTPB).

He said he did this in hopes that her experience as a deputy minister and later minister of tourism and her ability to speak Chinese would help the government’s efforts to draw Chinese tourists to visit Malaysia.

“We want this market share of Chinese tourists and because of that, I thought that Ng is an appropriate person to be appointed as the board’s chairperson.

“I want to tell you, all of you, that I appointed her with the consent of the prime minister. He agreed to this and Ng did not appoint herself,” he told a press conference today.

NONE Nazri ( left ) was responding to reporters’ queries on allegations that Ng had appointed herself to the board in April near the end of her tenure as minister - an allegation that Nazri describes as “not fair” and “cruel”.

Although the move appears to contradict the party’s stance not to accept government posts due to its poor performance in the recent election, its president Dr Chua Soi Lek had said that this is not the case .

“If one was to read the ‘no government posts’ resolution passed in the party’s annual general meeting in totality, (it states) nobody should accept government posts normally recommended by the party,” he told reporters last week.

Since Ng was appointed by a minister and not by the party, Chua said she did not breach the party resolution, but stressed, “I am not saying this is not a problem, but she can take the post.”

According to Nazri, Malaysia currently receives only 1.5 million of China’s 400 million tourists.

“That is not even one percent, and these tourists from China are ‘quality tourists’. They spend money.

“They stay for about a week and they spend money, and we want them to come to Malaysia,” he said, before moving on to describe Ng’s credentials to hold her post.

Besides her ability to speak Chinese, Nazri cited her five-year stint as deputy tourism minister, and another five years heading the ministry as a full minister.