HUMAN Resources Minister V. Sivakumar is now caught between a rock and a hard place with benefit of doubt accorded to him thinning after five of the officers appointed by him personally had their services terminated with immediate effect based on sources from both the Prime Minister’s Department and his own ministry.
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, perhaps he should do the most honourable thing by going on garden leave – or even stepping down – for bad judgment on his part.
As part of the government’s efforts to clean up the HR Ministry after recent allegations of corruption and abuse of power linked to his officers, Malaysiakini was made to understand that five officers had their contracts terminated while another one was transferred to the Public Service Department.
They include two officers – the minister’s special functions officer and private secretary – who were detained last month by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) in connection with a case involving the recruitment of foreign workers.
“Even if Sivakumar is innocent, it still reflected badly on him as these officers were brought in by him,” suggested netizen Muilti Racial who wrote on the comment section of Malaysiakini.
“Whichever, I hope DAP leadership will look into the matter and if indeed this is due to Sivakumar inefficiency in spite of his innocence, he should be replaced by another DAP leaders.”
Added the netizen: “DAP has such huge talent pool within them and I’m sure Sivakumar can be easily replaced. It should also send a strong message to not just DAP ministers but also every minister in the unity government that nobody is indispensable. If you don’t perform or did anything wrongdoing, you’ve to go.”
Another netizen BlueShark1548 opined that Sivakumar should resign for bad judgement in the employment of those whose contracts were terminated. “Looks like there is lucrative trade in the employment of migrant workers now disclosed under Anwar’s government,” he shared.
“Foreign workers had previously arrived at KLIA without any employment and left stranded but the issue was not pursued by authorities. Now under Anwar, we hope the plight of these poor exploited workers would be addressed by all relevant ministries.”
Judging by the look of things, My2cen reckoned that “if Sivakumar is innocent, then he is very incompetent”.
“DAP must make a bold decision by asking him to tender his resignation, and not wait for the PM to sack him. He must not be stubborn at this point. If he does not go, then DAP will face ridicule,” added the netizen. – May 5, 2023
