TO COMPOUND the long list of political appointees to government-linked companies (GLCs), agencies and as advisors in ministries, Agriculture and Food Security Minister Datuk Seri Mohamad Sabu a.k.a. Mat Sabu has just appointed a number of political hacks to lead agriculture- based agencies.
Three Amanah politicians were appointed to head agencies under the Agriculture and Food Security Ministry (MOAFS). Faiz Fadzil has been appointed as the chairman of the Fisheries Development Authority and Datuk Mahfuz Omar as chairman of the Farmers’ Organisation Authority (FOA).
Both men stood for election under the Pakatan Harapan (PH) banner in the 15th General Election (GE15) but were defeated.
Aminuddin Zulkipli, a former Amanah assemblyman in Perak, was appointed chairman of the Federal Agricultural Marketing Authority (FAMA), an important agency for the marketing of smallholder produce.
Elsewhere, Mat Sabu has also appointed PKR’s Dr Azman Ismail as chairman of the Malaysian Agricultural Research and Development Institute (MARDI) and the DAP’s Sheikh Bagharid Ali as chairman of the Malaysian Pineapple Industry Board.
Malaysia Madani style?
“I am confident of the knowledge, credibility and experience they have in leading and shouldering the trust and responsibility in supporting and ensuring reforms in line with the aspirations of Malaysia Madani,” justified Mat Sabu when introducing the new political appointments.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim defended the appointments by saying those appointed were qualified for the jobs and are subject “to stricter rules”.
Talking from the DAP playbook, the party’s secretary-general Anthony Loke Siew Fook said these appointments were not business positions. Only as far back as March 26, Loke pledged there would be no political appointments in GLCs listed in Bursa Malaysia under the unity government.
These appointments have somehow override PH’s policy that there should be no political appointments to GLCs, government agencies, statutory bodies and ministries as advisors.
Recall that PH has criticised Muhyiddin’s political appointments as contravening the principles of good governance.
However, these new political appointments are part of a trend of the current administration. UMNO’s Datuk Dr Asyraf Wajdi Dusuki is chairman of Majlis Amanah Rakyat (MARA) while former UMNO Kepala Batas MP Datuk Seri Reezal Merican Naina Merican is chairman of MATRADE (Malaysia External Trade Development) and Kelantan UMNO chief Datuk Ahmad Jazlan Yaakub is chairman of Felcra Bhd.
Meanwhile, PKR’s Ledang MP Syed Ibrahim Syed Noh is chairman of the Malaysian Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC). PKR Balik Pulau MP Muhammad Bakhtiar Wan Chik is chairman of MyCreative Ventures Sdn Bhd under the Finance Ministry and defeated PKR Kapar MP Datuk Abdullah Sani Abdul Hamid is the chairman of Tekun Nasional.
All these appointments make a mockery of Loke’s March 26 statement.
The common thread through all these appointments are the political connections. This greatly narrows the potential talent pool that candidates can be drawn from. This is a slap in the face to professionalism and meritocracy.
There are many non-political people with long experience and expertise who could take on these positions. They were all by-passed in favour of politicians.
This practice is nothing more than just giving out jobs for the boys. Mat Sabu has described the appointments he made recently “as being in-line with the aspirations of Malaysia Madani” which further tarnishes the credibility of Malaysia Madani.
The appointments appear to be a scheme to reward political losers while rewarding loyalty. This destroys the moral base of the unity government and the principles it claims to have.
Malaysia is the loser from these appointments. It looks like any potential for reform has just been thrown out of the window. – May 11, 2023
Australia-born Murray Hunter has been involved in Asia-Pacific business for the last 40 years as an entrepreneur, consultant, academic and researcher. He was previously an associate professor at the Universiti Malaya Perlis.
The views expressed are solely of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Focus Malaysia.
