Daim: Why is wealth, power placed in hands of 'unqualified' few?

Daim Zainuddin questioned the number of politicians appointed to GLCs and GLICs by Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin's Perikatan Nasional administration.

The former finance minister said while it is a norm to have some political appointees in GLCs and GLICs, it is "certainly out of the norm" to have so many politicians filling up the positions.

"People see this as being done very blatantly with the sole intention of buying political support," he said in an interview sent to several media organisations.

According to Malaysiakini's tally, there were 39 key appointments to government agencies, port authorities, GLCs, governing bodies and special diplomatic positions.

Daim (photo) expressed concern regarding the qualification of the appointees and if they would be able to juggle between their duties as an elected lawmaker and in the respective firms.

He said this was one of many unanswered questions surrounding the process, including the government's apparent intention to further enrich already wealthy lawmakers.

"Why is this government putting so much wealth and power into the hands of a privileged, unqualified few? Why must the cake be made smaller?

"Why are the many talented people this country has produced being ignored?

"Why are the commitment and capabilities of so many professionals who could have done a much better job being insulted?” he asked.

At the end of the day, Daim noted there are many other ways which could be adopted by the government to retain loyalty and support from MPs, without sacrificing the performance of GLCs and GLICs.

Despite there being no law against political appointments to GLCs, prominent economist Prof Edmund Terence Gomez recently said "abuse of power" remained a pressing issue as the appointed politicians could use the positions in ways that would benefit their vested interests.

During the Pakatan Harapan administration, Daim had headed the Council of Eminent Persons advisory body and was appointed as special envoy to China, as part of efforts to renegotiate and reduce the cost of the ECRL project. - Mkini