'Dr M ruffling international feathers adds urgency for a foreign minister'

Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad's move to scrap or review projects linked to China and Singapore has added urgency to the need to appoint a foreign minister, said MCA vice-president Chew Mei Fun.

"In particular, the government recently announced the cancellation of the Kuala Lumpur-Singapore High-Speed Rail and the review of large-scale projects such as the East Coast Railway Link (ECRL).

"Since these plans involve a high level of cooperation with Singapore and China respectively, any changes to these plans will inevitably cause a certain degree of impact on the relations between Malaysia and China,

"The coordination and follow-up work all need to be handled by the foreign minister to ensure that our country’s foreign relations and international image are not affected," she said in a statement today.

Likewise, Chew noted that Mahathir who began his official visit to Japan yesterday had done so without a foreign minister.

"The Foreign Ministry is a very important ministry. In particular, for the newly-elected government, general diplomatic procedures must be re-established, and the decisions and topics of foreign-related policies need to be personally handled by the foreign minister," he said.

She added that in the absence of a foreign minister, matters relating to the Foreign Ministry must be handled by the prime minister, adding to his burden.

Chew also questioned why the Pakatan Harapan government has not been able to name the complete cabinet, more than a month after winning power.

"This will not only affect the operation of the executive but will also make it difficult for Harapan to fulfil their election manifesto within 100 days," he said. - Mkini