Najib Chides Khalid Samad Over Political Appointments Statement

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Former premier Najib Abdul Razak has taken a swipe at Amanah leader Khalid Samad after the latter "thanked" him for his statement that Pakatan Harapan had promised to end political appointments
Yesterday, Najib (photo) in his Facebook post claimed that it was Harapan that promised to end political appointments but broke it after it won the 2018 14th general election
Subsequently, Khalid had shared a Malaysiakini article carrying Najib's statement on the matter in his Twitter
"Yes and that was why Harapan was elected and BN dumped
"Now this back door government, in total disregard for the wishes of the people, is doing what the BN, which was dumped by the rakyat, did in its day
"Thank you (Na)Jib for your explanation. Down with BN. Now down with Perikatan Nasional. They are the same," the caption reads
In reply, Najib accused Khalid of only reading the headline but not the content of the article
"(Kha)Lid thought that I praised Harapan as they had promised to end political appointments
"If he read the article carefully, he'd know that I had (actually) brushed off Harapan because it had promised that there would be no more political appointments but later broke its promise by making such appointments en mass
"Then, it has the heart to ask PN to keep a promise that it itself broke," Najib said in a Facebook posting
It was reported that all MPs who do not presently hold positions in the government will be made heads of government-linked companies (GLCs), according to the de facto law minister Takiyuddin Hassan
Recent appointments include Machang MP Ahmad Jazlan who was appointed as Malaysian Palm Oil Board chairperson. He replaced the industry veteran Bakke Mohd Salleh
Another Amanah member Faiz Fadzil (above) had said that while Harapan did make political appointments to lead government-linked companies, it never appointed politicians to head GLCs that have a commercial role
“For example, there are some under the Agriculture and Food Industries Ministry (MOA), but these are government agencies and their staff are civil servants
“These agencies are meant to manage issues relating to target groups under the MOA,” Faiz told Malaysiakini yesterday
While PAS' Pasir Mas MP Ahmad Fadhli Shaari was appointed as the new Skills Development Fund Corporation chairperson, replacing K Saraswathy who is a lawyer by training
The Harapan government was formed after the 14th GE in May 2018 but in less than two years, the government collapsed and the PN government took over in February 2020
The PN government is a cooperation between BN, PAS, Bersatu, GPS and several former PKR leaders. - Mkini

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