We need to instil some order in the way we appoint people to such positions
A MALAYSIAN satirist landed a pitch-perfect caricature on the appointment of a powerful politician’s daughter to a publicly-funded university.
Last week, it was revealed that Datuk Nurulhidayah Ahmad Zahid has been made a director of Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM), a research university with some 30,000 students.
Nurulhidayah is the daughter of UMNO president and Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi. She is also a key member of Wanita UMNO.
For some time, Ahmad Zahid was pacing up and down the courts, facing 47 corruption charges in connection to his charitable organisation Yayasan Akalbudi. Then, in September 2023, the dark shadow hovering over him was whisked away when the Attorney General’s Chambers decided to drop the charges. The 72-year-old politician was granted a discharge not amounting to an acquittal (DNAA).
In response to Nurulhidayah’s UPM directorship, satirist Fahmi Reza released a “Anak Zahid Hamidi” sardonic caricature. Netizens lapped it up, unleashing a torrent of derisive comments.
The caricature, designed as a resume, drove home one single point: Family ties. In the About Me section of the imaginary resume, it was stated: Anak Zahid Hamidi (Zahid Hamidi’s child). In the skills, again, the remark was Anak Zahid Hamidi.
Of course, this is an exaggeration. That’s the nature of caricatures — you seize and exaggerate a salient feature or characteristic. And in this case, she is the daughter of a powerful politician holding a senior government post.
In her defence, Nurulhidayah, a former UPM student, said in early 2024, her former lecturer had encouraged her to apply for the position as a vacancy was expected soon. She claimed she was merely trying her luck. Already an active alumni member of the university, she said the position would spur her on to help poor students.
Nooryana Najwa was appointed as a director of Matrade in October last year
The news comes just weeks after Nooryana Najwa Najib, daughter of the jailed former Prime Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Najib Razak, was appointed as a director of the Malaysia External Trade Development Corp (Matrade).
Both appointments smack of nepotism. Both appointments should not have taken place. Those responsible for the appointments were either tone deaf or unruffled by public angst to blatant abuses of power.
Along with this, you can add the string of politicians given positions in government-linked companies (GLCs) as well as statutory bodies like Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) and Securities Commission.
We need to reign in this practice. We need to instil some order in the way we appoint people to such positions. It is obvious the system is broken.
The Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections (Bersih 2.0) had done some homework for the government. In 2021, it released a research report entitled “Reform of Appointments of Key Public Officers in Malaysia”.
It touched on appointments of top officers of constitutional and statutory bodies at the federal level such as Auditor-General, Solicitor General, Chief Secretary to the Government, Inspector General of Police and commissioners of Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission.
It argued, and rightly so, that there was a need to reform the process of appointment and removal of key public officers to make it more transparent, accountable, open to public scrutiny and merit based. It recommends to the government to enact a Public Appointments and Removal Bill to kick start this process of reform.
It shared some points that should be embedded into the bill. They included:
- The relevant minister must appoint an independent and civil-society headed Advisory Assessment Panel to interview and recommend candidates for key public officers.
- This is followed by an open and informed invitation to the public to apply for any such vacancies.
- After going through the selection process, the Advisory Assessment Panel shall recommend up to three candidates for the vacancy to the relevant minister, in order of preference.
- The minister shall nominate the recommended candidate to the relevant Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC). The PSC will then convene to deliberate on the minister’s nomination. The PSC serves as an additional layer of check and balance over the appointment process and such scrutiny (which is often public) ensures greater transparency and accountability.
- The Bill shall also establish a Commissioner for Public Appointments and Removal, who is primarily tasked to oversee all the above procedures to ensure that they are complied with by all ministries, agencies, ministers, advisory assessment panel and PSCs. The commissioner also plays a role in auditing the appointment and removal processes and publishing a report to the public on the said audit, to ensure transparency and scrutiny.
- The Bill shall also make it mandatory for the government to formulate a governance code to guide the appointment of key public officers, which ideally should encompass principles such as selflessness, integrity, merit, openness, diversity, assurance and fairness.
If applied, we have a better chance of the right people landing the right positions. This will do Malaysia a whole lot of good.
In her parting note on Instagram, Nurulhidayah said: “This will be my very last comment for this LPU UPM issue. LPU UPM jer pun, bukan Ahli Lembaga Pengarah Petronas.”
Will there be a vacancy soon for a director position at the national oil company? Let us all try our luck.
- Habhajan Singh is the corporate editor of The Malaysian Reserve.
- This article first appeared in The Malaysian Reserve weekly print edition