PETALING JAYA: The unity government has regressed on reforms achieved by the Pakatan Harapan (PH) administration following the 2018 general election, says Muda president Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman.
Syed Saddiq, who served as youth and sports minister in the PH government, said the administration, then led by Dr Mahathir Mohamad, achieved several reforms within its first eight months in power.
“By then, asset declarations by Cabinet members were done. Today, it hasn’t,” Syed Saddiq told FMT in an interview.
“By then, almost all the major government-linked companies (GLCs) and government-linked investment companies (GLICs) – not just the chairman, but (also) the board members, were professionals.
“Today, they are controlled and dominated by political appointments under Umno and also under PH,” he said.
The PH-led unity government has faced criticism for the lack of reforms, including its refusal to repeal the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act 2012 (Sosma) and political appointments.
However, repealing Sosma or barring political appointments were not among the pledges listed in the PH manifesto in GE15.
Syed Saddiq said that after PH came to power in 2018, Mahathir initially assumed the education portfolio but this led to public backlash as it went against the coalition’s manifesto which barred the prime minister from holding any other ministerial post especially the finance portfolio.
As a result, Mahathir relinquished the portfolio.
However, Syed Saddiq said this time around, the prime minister also assumed the finance minister’s portfolio.
He also said the restructured federal territories ministry which is now a department, as well as the Malaysian Indian Transformation Unit (Mitra), now comes under the prime minister’s purview.
“(Back) then, (they were) all separated. Even agencies were put under different ministries so that there are proper checks and balances,” he said. - FMT
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