A POTENTIAL ‘discrepancy’ has been detected in that the actual number of aides of Human Resources Minister V. Sivakumar who were recently axed could have been “four” instead of “five” as was widely reported in the media earlier.
This was based on the fact that four – instead of five – names of so-called ‘top-level’ officers had been removed from the latest directory of HR Minister’s V. Sivakumar’s office bearers.
A further check by FocusM into the HR Ministry’s portal reveals that only two aides of the minister have been retained, namely the minister’s political secretary Ravindran A. Vengadasamy and press secretary Chin Sung Chew.
Nevertheless, FocusM was made to understand that it was correctly reported that one officer was transferred out. The said officer is believed to be Datuk Puteh Hidayah A. Rahman who was formerly Sivakumar’s senior private secretary for her name no longer exists in the new directory.
“She is the officer transferred out, presumably to the Public Service Department as reported, for she is a civil servant all these while,” a source familiar with the affairs of the HR Ministry told FocusM.
A further probe by FocusM revealed that Puteh had previously held the same capacity in the office of former de-factor law minister Datuk Seri Dr Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar.
As for the special function officer (policy and strategic), a check by FocusM into her LinkedIn account revealed that she had previously held an administrative position at the MMC-Gamuda Joint Venture Sdn Bhd (w.e.f. from March 2016) which coincidentally was also where the special function officer was attached to as construction manager (w.e.f. from July 2017).
“The special function officer is a powerful position for the person is also in-charge of the minister’s parliament matters,” shared the source. “Interestingly, there is a mother and son link between the private secretary and the special function officer (operations) whereby the latter is only 22 years old.”
Whatever said and done, The Vibes had on Thursday (May 4) reported that the termination of the officers linked to Sivakumar was done under orders of the ministry’s newly-appointed secretary-general Datuk Seri Dr Zaini Ujang who was given the mandate to clean up the ministry and its related agencies.
In fact, a source told the news portal that the secretary-general is also reviewing the contracts of several senior officers in the ministry and its agencies with termination in mind.
All-in-all, Sivakumar who is also one of DAP’s four Cabinet Ministers has found himself caught between a rock and a hard place with benefit of doubt accorded to him thinning after aides appointed by him personally had their services terminated.
With a huge image burden to the unity government, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s anti-corruption drive, reputation of his ministry, DAP and himself, netizens are urging the Batu Gajah MP to do the most honourable thing by going on garden leave – or even stepping down – for bad judgment on his part.
“Sivakumar appointed all the four aides whose contract has been terminated himself. So far, the minister has not find any replacement for those four terminated and one transferred,” added the source. – May 7, 2023
