Former Penang PKR leader Datuk Seri Zahrain Mohd Hashim (pic) was not named in the list of Malaysian ambassadors appointed by Putrajaya because the Indonesian government has not given his appointment the go-ahead.
Deputy Foreign Minister Datuk Hamzah Zainuddin clarified today that the poser on Zahrain was never questioned in Parliament yesterday.
Yesterday, Hamzah named four ambassadors appointed by political appointments, including former Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Ismail Omar to France and former PPP vice-president Datin Seri Blanche O'Leary to Finland, but he did not name Zahrain.
This resulted in opposition politicians questioning later why the deputy minister did not name Zahrain, as it had been earlier reported that he was the next ambassador to Indonesia.
"How can we name him when we have not received a reply from Indonesia? Although we have appointed him and he has gone through due process including having an audience with the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, we still need Indonesia's go-ahead. Otherwise they might question why we named him without waiting for their response," Hamzah explained.
He also took to task opposition politicians who had questioned Zahrain's appointment.
"They don't know what is happening, yet they want to comment. They just want to paint a bad picture of the government,' Hamzah said.
"I was not being evasive, furthermore, they did not ask about Zahrain's status inside the House, so how to answer when they did not ask," he added.
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