“Why with 34m Malaysians around yet we keep recycling people with shady past, baggage?”

 

HUMAN rights activist and lawyer Siti Kasim is unable to fathom as to why Malaysia has the tendency to appoint people with a tainted past to key government positions.

Regardless of this boils down to rewarding loyalty or past deeds, she called on the Madani government not to treat Malaysians as fools, more so in today’s internet age whereby information travel at high speed.

Siti Kasim was commenting on the appointment of former Sabah chief minister Tun Musa Aman as the state’s new governor yesterday (Dec 17) with effect from Jan 1, 2025 for a four-year period (till Dec 31, 2028) to replace Tun Juhar Mahiruddin.

Musa who had on June 9, 2020 been acquitted and discharged of all 46 criminal charges linked to Sabah timber concessions contracts has described his appointment as a “great honour”, particularly the trust placed in him by His Majesty Sultan Ibrahim, King of Malaysia.

“I accept this appointment with great pride and hope I can continue to be of service to the state and the people in my capacity as Governor of Sabah,” acknowledged the 73-year-old former chief minister in a statement.

Following this MUDA deputy president Amira Aisya Abd Aziz has branded Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim as “the most hypocrite PM” with his so-called reformasi movement “having turned into reformati”.

But Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil came into PMX’s defence by stating that this was the prerogative of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong at the advice of Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor as per the Sabah state constitution.

“But we live in a real world, mate … don’t you think that Hajiji didn’t have a conversation with PMX or someone else on the matter?” asked Siti Kasim in a YouTube video.

“This paints the impression as if we’re short of talents in Malaysia to be appointed just like the appointment of former Thai PM Thaksin Shinawatra as PMX’s ASEAN advisor (in conjunction with Malaysia’s chairmanship of the regional grouping next year).”

On this note, the Orang Asli advocate wanted to know if Malaysia is “really short of smart, clever, reputable people to be appointed” till it has to “keep on recycling people with baggage” as evident in both Musa and Thaksin.

“Can’t we’ve good, clean people without baggage? As there’re 34 million Malaysians, it baffles the mind if we’re short of people that we keep on recycling the same people with tainted past?

“I truly understand the dissatisfaction of the people who don’t wish to be treated like fools … you can use the constitution as your defence but at the end of the day, we don’t know what has transpired in the back for we’ve no proof.

“The question is why we can’t appoint others without baggage but with clean track record because there’re so many of them around … I don’t understand this but I feel that there’s something seriously not right in Malaysia.” – Focus Malaysia