IT seems that a statement has been issued to all Prime Minister Office (PMO) staff that that the eighth Malaysian Prime Minister (PM) should now be addressed as Tan Sri Mahiaddin Md Yassin with immediate effect.
According to the Latest Malaysia news portal, the statement signed by the PM’s principal private secretary Datuk Dr Marzuki Mohamad stated that the change was made in tandem with the opinion of the Attorney General’s (AG) Chambers.
“The directive is issued following the advice of the AG’s chambers,” the news portal pointed out.
Marzuki further noted that all correspondence and official government documents that require the use and signature of the PM must use the official name.
The change in the spelling of the actual name of the PM came as a few quarters raised the issue that the PM’S name was being spelt wrongly.
On April 2, it was reported that the Shah Alam court had reversed a preventive detention order signed by Muhyiddin during his tenure as the Home Minister because he signed the order using his “glamour name” as opposed to his real name.
According to reports from Malaysiakini, the court made the ruling as he used the name “Muhyiddin Mohd Yassin” instead of his actual name which is “Mahiaddin Md Yasin”.
“Under the Ministerial Functions Act 1969, the name stated in the gazette is Mahiaddin Md Yasin, the name in his MyKad,” lawyer Danial Amir Hamzah was cited as sayng in Malaysiakini.
“Today, the High Court ruled that any executive decision or action taken by the PM or minister must use the name in the gazette, namely the name in the MyKad and not the glamour name.” – June 16, 2021
