'No political hypocrisy in moving Finance Ministry's entities to PM's Dept'
PKR president Anwar Ibrahim denies that the Pakatan Harapan administration is practising political hypocrisy by placing many Finance Ministry entities under Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
"I don't believe so," he told a press conference after attending the Malaysian Economy Symposium held at the Parliament building today...
PKR president Anwar Ibrahim denies that the Pakatan Harapan administration is practising political hypocrisy by placing many Finance Ministry entities under Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
"I don't believe so," he told a press conference after attending the Malaysian Economy Symposium held at the Parliament building today.
"This is because Khazanah and Petronas are national holdings. So for the transition (period), this is acceptable," he said, adding that people did not see this as a business arrangement that the prime minister was involved in.
At the same symposium, academic Edmund Terence Gomez had questioned Pakatan Harapan's management of GLCs and GLICs.
He questioned the need to move these entities under the Prime Minister's Department, when Harapan had already pledged that the prime minister would not hold the finance portfolio, unlike with the previous administration.
Gomez (photo) also criticised the government’s lack of political will to reform the GLC patronage system which remained from the BN era.
'State, not federal'
Responding to this, Anwar said political appointments to GLC boards only exist at the state level.
"We no longer practise this in the federal government, but there are problems with several states. This has been very clear in our policy," said Anwar.
"I accept Gomez's advice in good faith because it will drive us to be a more effective (government) in future," he said.
Anwar noted, however, that some have argued for capable politicians taking up positions in GLCs.
"Some argued that we should not reject all (politicians), as not all of them are incapable and corrupted," he said, adding that graft exists in all sectors.
Contrary to the claim that Harapan does not appoint politicians to GLCs at the federal level, Bersatu supreme council member Akhramsyah Muammar Ubaidah Sanusi was appointed as chairperson of Mara Corporation Sdn Bhd in January 2019.
Another Bersatu leader, Sukiman Sarmani, was appointed as chairperson of Universiti Teknikal Mara.
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