NO MORE FAT PAYCHECKS FOR PEOPLE WITH ‘NO CAPABILITIES’, EVEN MINISTERS WILL BE AXED IF THEY ARE CORRUPT: MAHATHIR TO LOOK FOR ‘PROFESSIONALS’ TO REPLACE GLC ‘POLITICAL APPOINTEES’

JAKARTA – The chief executives or directors of government-linked companies (GLCs) under the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government will be from among those who are truly professional and they will not be paid high salaries, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said here.

The prime minister said the previous (Barisan Nasional) government had put many political appointees in charge of GLCs although they lacked management capability and were paid high salaries.

GLC chief executives or directors under the PH government would not be paid high salaries but they would be rewarded with a bonus if they performed well, he said.

“We (the PH government) will look for professionals as far as possible; we will give preference to people who have experience in management,” he said to Malaysian journalists here.

Dr Mahathir, who is on a two-day official visit to Indonesia, said 17,000 political appointments had been made by the previous BN government.

“Generally, we found that these people were selected because they were party supporters but were inefficient and were paid high salaries. In the end, their management and projects failed.

“The 17,000 political appointees by the previous government included some ambassadors who have no capabilities,” he said.

Axe will fall on corrupt ministers, says Dr M

JAKARTA — Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said here today that any minister found to have been involved in corruption or irregularities would be dropped from the Pakatan Harapan (PH) Cabinet.

He said the errant minister would be removed immediately.

Dr Mahathir was asked about the criteria for the appointment of the Cabinet ministers, a second batch of whom would be sworn in at Istana Negara on July 2.

He spoke to Malaysian journalists on the second day of his two-day official visit to Indonesia.

Istana Negara had announced that the swearing-in would take place on July 2 and that the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, Sultan Muhammad V, was presented the list of ministers and deputy ministers on June 20.

Dr Mahathir had so far appointed 13 ministers.

— Bernama