By Emmanuel Samarathisa
RURAL Development Ministry secretary-general Datuk Ahmad Jailani Muhamed Yunus (pic) has been named acting Mara chairman effective March 26 until the appointment of a successor to previous chairman Hasnita Hashim.
His appointment as interim chairman is in line with Section 3(3) of the Mara Act 1966, said a March 30 statement.
Mara is an agency under the Rural Development Ministry whose minister is Datuk Abd Latiff Ahmad under the new Perikatan Nasional government.
The chain of command is structured such that the Mara council or majlis reports to the secretary-general and the minister. It is understood that this is the first time a sitting civil servant is also acting chairman of the statutory body.
On March 18, Hasnita and several professionals who make up the statutory body’s council were sacked as they had been deemed “political appointees of Pakatan Harapan.”
But one of the directors told FocusM that they were appointed after being evaluated and interviewed by the now-defunct Council of Eminent Persons (CEP) led by former finance minister Tun Daim Zainuddin.
They were part of the CEP’s plan to enlist corporates to help restructure statutory bodies such as Mara, the director said.
Abd Latiff, who quit Umno for Bersatu, has succeeded Datuk Seri Rina Harun as head of the Rural Development Ministry. Rina is now the women and family development minister.
Mara is the largest statutory body in Malaysia with 22,000 staff. It was set up in 1966 to help the Bumiputera gain economic parity. — March 30, 2020
