Minister has authority to terminate Tourism M'sia DG - Zuki

The authority to appoint and terminate the services of Malaysian Tourism Promotion Board (Tourism Malaysia) director-general Ammar Abd Ghapar rests with the tourism, arts, and culture minister.

Chief secretary to the government Mohd Zuki Ali said this is outlined in the Malaysian Tourism Promotion Board Act 1992 (Act 481).

“In fact, the authority to appoint the Tourism Malaysia director-general lies within the jurisdiction of the tourism, arts, and culture minister, as defined by Act 481, granting the minister the power to appoint and terminate an individual’s services.

“At times, it becomes necessary to provide clarification to the public, as I am aware this issue has been raised and circulated widely on social media and other platforms.

“The official statement released to the public explicitly states that the authority falls under the jurisdiction of the respective minister, and any further clarification will come directly from that minister,” said Zuki.

He said this yesterday after attending the rehearsal for the closing ceremony of the Central Zone Madani Rakyat programme at the Kuala Selangor Sports Complex.

He was responding to reports in the local media and social media about Ammar’s dismissal which was allegedly stated in a letter dated Feb 22.

According to the letter, the termination of Ammar’s service, effective Monday (Feb 26), was under Subsection 10(1) of the Malaysian Tourism Promotion Board Act 1992 (Act 481), read together with Section 47 of the Interpretation Act 1948 and 1967 (Act 388).

Yesterday, Tourism, Arts, and Culture Minister Tiong King Sing denied that Ammar was terminated from the post but instead demoted to the post of Tourism Malaysia deputy director-general.

Tiong said the decision was made due to Ammar’s declining performance, which was described as unsatisfactory, despite being advised several times to improve.

Meanwhile, the revival of the Civil Service Tribunal as a way for civil servants to seek redress needs to be discussed with the Public Service Department director-general and the chief secretary to the government first.

Government spokesperson Fahmi Fadzil said this was because public service matters needed to be referred to both individuals for scrutiny.

“So we might have to study the matter further and need to hand it over to them,” he told Bernama and RTM.

Fahmi, who is also the communications minister, is currently in Spain leading the Malaysian delegation to the Mobile World Congress Barcelona 2024 which begins on Monday.

He was commenting on the suggestion mooted by the Tourism Malaysia Workers’ Union over the recent demotion of Ammar.

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