Spoils of war: Sharing the loot, Madani-style

Anwar Ibrahim had long campaigned for change prior to becoming the prime minister, but there was one area he wasn’t prepared to change too much - political appointments to GLCs and government agencies.

Pakatan Harapan did not pledge to change this practice in their 2022 election manifesto but it was a prominent feature of their 2018 manifesto when the coalition was led by Dr Mahathir Mohamad*.

Of the 442 government departments, agencies, and GLCs listed in the Ministers of the Federal Government Order 2023, politicians from Anwar’s ruling coalition - 19 MPs and 42 other politicians - took up at least 61 boardroom positions*.

This article will only examine appointments that are not held by cabinet ministers or chief ministers/menteri besar because some entities require them to chair the board, according to their internal rules.

Information on boardroom appointments was obtained from publicly available sources as of Nov 22 and could unintentionally omit official appointments that were not announced.

In 2020, the Muhyiddin Yassin administration saw at least 29 backbenchers taking a GLC or agency boardroom seat in an exercise known among political circles as the “scheme of things” project, designed to encourage loyalty among backbenchers at a time when his administration was in an uneasy alliance following the Sheraton Move of 2020.

In contrast, Anwar’s administration has at least 19 backbenchers taking up boardroom roles.

READ MORE: Spoils of war: Sharing the loot, PN-style

Umno biggest winner

Surprisingly, the lion’s share of appointments went to Umno (17), followed by PKR (15) and Amanah (12). These appointments do not include GLCs, or agency positions held by cabinet ministers.

Umno was over-represented because their share of the 61 positions was at 27.8 percent, despite only contributing 17.2 percent of seats on the government bench in the Dewan Rakyat.

All the appointments from Umno involved close allies of Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi. Six appointments involved agencies in the Rural and Regional Development Ministry - where Zahid is the minister.

Of the 17, there was only one MP - Noraini Ahmad (Parit Sulong). She was appointed as the chairperson of the Rubber Industry Smallholders Development Authority (Risda) in March.

In May, Reezal Merican Naina Merican was appointed as the chairperson for Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation, three months before he won the Bertam legislative assembly seat for BN-Umno.

Other appointees are influential former lawmakers such as Ahmad Said, who now heads the Terengganu Development Authority (Ketengah), Jamil Khir Baharom, who heads the Kedah Development Authority (Keda) and Ahmad Shabery Cheek, chairperson of Felda.

Shabery’s appointment in June would have been in violation of Harapan’s 2018 election manifesto. Therein, Harapan had a chapter titled “Special commitment for Felda settlers” which promised that Felda’s board members would not be politicians*.

Harapan’s 2022 election manifesto had no mention of Felda*.

“The Felda administration will be revamped so that the voice of settlers can be officially heard at the highest level of management, and to put an end to appointments based on political links to the board of Felda and its subsidiaries,” read the document.

Zahid’s closest ally and Umno secretary-general Asyraf Wajdi Dusuki was made chairperson of Majlis Amanah Rakyat (Mara), a powerful agency tasked with creating bumiputera entrepreneurs and running educational institutions for the bumiputera.

All the president’s men and women

Anwar’s party PKR came in second with at least 15 appointments, again excluding cabinet ministers. Most of the appointees are known Anwar loyalists.

Among them were six MPs - R Ramanan (Sungai Buloh), Sim Tze Tzin (Bayan Baru), Wong Chen (Subang), Syed Ibrahim Syed Noh (Ledang), Muhammad Bakhtiar Wan Chik (Balik Pulau) and Zahid Hassan (Wangsa Maju).

Fauzi Abdul Rahman, one of Anwar’s staunchest supporters from Pahang, was appointed MyHSR Corporation chairperson in June.

Incidentally, Fauzi’s son Farhan is one of Anwar’s three political secretaries. According to political circles, he is the most powerful of the three.

Other known Anwar confidantes - Azman Ismail, Dr Lee Boon Chye, Dr Azman Ismail, Noor Amin Ahmad, Nor Azrina Surip and Muhammad Nor Manuty - were appointed as well.

PKR’s share of the 61 appointments was markedly higher than the 20.5 percent of seats the party was supplying the government bench.

Ally Amanah was grossly over-represented in GLC and agency appointments, holding 12 out of 61 positions (19.7 percent), despite only contributing 5.3 percent of the seats to the government bench.

In contrast, DAP has only six out of 61 positions (9.84 percent) despite being the largest party on the government bench (26.5 percent).

There were three DAP MPs who made it to the boardrooms - Khoo Poay Tiong (Kota Melaka), RSN Rayer (Jelutong) and Vivian Wong (Sandakan).

It is widely believed that DAP’s Charles Santiago was hand-picked by Anwar to lead the Water Services Commission (Span) rather than going through the usual route of being a party nominee.

Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB), the lynchpin of the Gabungan Parti Sarawak coalition, were given three appointments, all of which involved MPs - Richard Rapu @ Aman Anak Begri (Betong), Yusuf Abd Wahab (Tanjong Manis) and Ahmad Johnie Zawawi (Igan).

Surprise entrants

There are eight parties with one appointment each - Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS), United Progressive Kinabalu Party (Upko), Parti Kesejahteraan Demokratik Masyarakat (KDM), Parti Bangsa Malaysia (PBM), People’s Democratic Party (PDP), MCA, Parti Rakyat Sarawak and Parti Cinta Sabah (PCS).

Interestingly, PCS’ Anifah Aman was appointed as the chairperson of the Labuan Corporation in June despite his party having no seats in the Sabah legislative assembly or the Dewan Rakyat.

Upko founder Bernard Dompok was among the earliest appointments, having been appointed to the SME Corp board in April.

Anwar’s endorsement for Anifah and Dompok - whose party wields minute influence - was telling because not a single appointment involved members of Warisan which is a much bigger party with three MPs and 14 state assemblypersons.

Another surprising appointment involved MCA’s Chua Tee Yong. Despite being relatively obscure in the party hierarchy, Chua was appointed to the Highway Authority (LLM) board in April as a board member “representing special interest”.

Pro-administration without any positions, according to Malaysiakini’s tally are MIC, Parti Bersatu Rakyat Sabah (PBRS), Sarawak United People’s Party (Supp), Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS), Parti Solidarity Tanah Airku (Star) and, as previously mentioned, Warisan.

Additional research by Tan Kah Kah and Chua Jia Hui.

READ MORE: What is a ‘payroll vote’?

Editor’s note: * denotes paragraphs amended for clarity. We regret any inconvenience caused.

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