Speaker: Appointment would not be nepotism as my son is well-qualified

Dewan Rakyat speaker Johari Abdul said that he will consider the appointment of his son, Mohammed Iqbal as his special functions officer and that it would not be nepotism as his son is well qualified for the role.

Johari (above), who was appointed as speaker on Dec 19, repeated that until now there has been no official appointment of Mohammed Iqbal for the position.

The former Sungai Petani MP told Berita Harian that the issue of nepotism does not arise because Iqbal has the qualifications and experience in carrying out the duties involved.

He said Iqbal has been serving as his special officer since 2009 in addition to having a Bachelor’s Degree in Finance from Multimedia University (MMU) Malacca.

“This would be nepotism if he is less qualified or he only has a diploma but is placed in a position that requires a bachelor’s degree.

“Or he just graduated from university but we put him in a position that requires 10 years of experience,” said Johari.

He said that Iqbal has been his officer for the past 14 years but only continued to help him with an allowance paid by himself.

“He continued with the work done all this time, which is not new. It is not an official appointment, the government does not pay (salary) as I pay it myself.

“I have a senior confidential secretary whose position has already been filled, a press secretary, and (three vacant spots) special duty officers whose people I have identified, and are now undergoing the application process.

“The process goes through SPA (Public Service Commission) and (Public Service Department) JPA so it takes time. If I think he is qualified and suitable, I will make an application. For now, he is placed here because I am here,” he said.

Parliament directory amended?

This comes after claims that one “Muhammad Iqbal Johari” was appointed as special duties officer 1 to the Yang di-Pertua Dewan Rakyat.

The allegation went viral and raised issues pertaining to nepotism claims under the current Anwar Ibrahim-led administration.

Bersatu member Badrul Hisham Shaharin was among those who raised the allegation on social media.

He also claimed the full name of Johari’s son was amended on Parliament’s online directory to mask his links to the speaker.

“Initially, there was one Mohammed Iqbal bin Johari listed as a special duties officer in the @MYParlimen staff directory.

“But after it was revealed that Nurul Izzah had been appointed as Anwar’s adviser, the directory had been edited, where ‘bin Johari’ was removed (from Iqbal’s name).

“Everyone else had their surname stated, except this one. Why?” he tweeted. - Mkini