MALAYSIA
The Malaysian Parliament’s Select Committee on Public Appointments might as well be disbanded as the Pakatan Harapan (PH) Government has no commitment to it, one of its members says.
Ibrahim Tuan Man said any further activity from now on would be meaningless in light of the Prime Minister’s unilateral appointment of Latheefa Koya (pictured) as the head of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC).
“It is apparent that the Government is not taking the Committee’s role seriously; it should be suspended until PH respects it,” Datuk Tuan Ibrahim said.
“I realise the Prime Minister has the prerogative in Public Service appointments, but the Committee was not even consulted prior to Latheefa’s appointment.”
Prime Minister, Dr Mahathir Mohamad admitted that he did not consult the Committee or even seek his Cabinet’s views on Ms Latheefa’s appointment as he wanted the freedom to choose the best candidate in his view.
He said that consulting others would have constrained his choices when the decision was also his prerogative.
Datuk Tuan Ibrahim said Dr Mahathir’s actions threw doubt on his promise to step down and make way for Anwar Ibrahim to become the next Prime Minister.
“The Prime Minister is running roughshod over his own Coalition’s electoral promise towards transparency in Government reforms,” Datuk Tuan Ibrahim said.
“Unfortunately, after this incident, PH has shown that its promises to the people all this while can’t be taken seriously.”
However, he said he was hopeful that Ms Latheefa would perform her role well despite her controversial appointment.
Kuala Lumpur, 9 June 2019
