Good Governance

Apandi’s refusal to resign honourably and with dignity has highlighted the refusal of other UMNO/BN political appointees to resign honourably and with dignity

By Kit

June 04, 2018

The refusal of Tan Sri Mohamad Apandi Ali in the past month to resign honourably and with dignity as Attorney-General has highlighted the refusal of other

UMNO/Barisan Nasional political appointees to resign honourably and with dignity their political appointments although there a change of Federal government for the first time in the nation’s history.

It would appear that there is honour among thieves but not among UMNO/BN politicians.

How many of the UMNO/BN Senators have resigned from the Senate since the historic and watershed development on May 9, 2018 which saw the peaceful and democratic transition of power after 61 years of independence.

In its report today, China Press reported that UMNO has 22 Senators, MCA six senators and MIC three senators.

As far as I know, none of the UMNO/BN Senators have submitted their resignation after the watershed and historic development on May 9.

Three day ago, Malaysiakini reported that the Finance Ministry, under the previous administration, had agreed to a RM5 million ex-gratia payment for 1MDB President, Arul Kanda Kandasamy and placed him on garden leave until his contract expired on June 30.

If true, this is a most extraordinary remuneration and probably the only case of its kind not only in Malaysia but in the world – where a company with only one employee is paying millions of ringgit of taxpayer’s monies.

The Malaysiakini report gave partial answer to a question I posed to Arul Kanda a week before the 14th General Election on May 9, 2018, where I specifically asked Arul Kanda to declare how much was his remuneration as 1MDB CEO – not only his monthly pay and allowances, but all the perks and privileges he received and would be receiving as 1MDB CEO and all other agreed terms of his remuneration.

Can Arul confirm the Malaysiakini report or has he gone into “disappearance mode” in his garden leave?

Malaysians learnt last week that the Malaysian Aviation Commission (Mycom) executive chairman Abdullah Ahmad earns a monthly salary of RM85,000, which is more than four times the basic salary of the Prime Minister.

An expert on corporate Malaysia estimated that there are some 68,000 government-linked companies (GLCs) in the country, and that some 70 of these GLCs pay millionaire or near-millionaire salaries a year to their Chairmen.

How many of the political appointees in these 68,000 GLCS have submitted their resignation after May 9, 2018?

(Media Statement in Kuala Lumpur on Monday, 4th June 2018)