Don T Consider Finance Minister Role At All Bersih Tells Anwar

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Bersih’s call comes after Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said he was not considering taking on the finance minister’s post ‘at the moment’.PETALING JAYA: Electoral reform group Bersih has taken note of Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s statement that he was not considering the role of finance minister “at the moment”, saying that instead he should not be considering it at all.
“He should not for a moment consider it as it would totally remove any semblance of check and balance in the inner sanctum of his own Cabinet.
“Have we not learned from the follies of (former prime minister) Najib Razak?” said the group’s steering committee in a statement, referring to Najib’s 1MDB scandal which took place while he was finance minister.
Yesterday, Anwar said he had not considered keeping the finance portfolio for himself as he went about deciding key positions in his Cabinet.
“We will look at all the possibilities but, at the moment, I have not considered that,” he had told reporters after Friday prayers in Putrajaya.
Anwar was a former finance minister and deputy to Dr Mahathir Mohamad, before his political rise was cut short after being fired in the wake of the 1997 financial crisis following a fallout with the latter.
Meanwhile, the group also welcomed the statement made by Perikatan Nasional’s chairman Muhyiddin Yassin that the coalition would function as an effective opposition force.
Bersih called upon Anwar’s government to enable the formation of a shadow Cabinet by PN with commensurate salary, resources and information access for its shadow ministers.
Bersih also said that each ministry should be scrutinised by a shadow minister who should be paid half the ministerial salary and provided staff, but not given other perks. - FMT

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