KUALA LUMPUR: All political appointments are made based on qualifications, experience and expertise as part of good governance, Finance Minister Tengku Zafrul Aziz said today.
He said these appointments have to go through screening processes by such agencies as Bursa Malaysia, the Securities Commission, Bank Negara Malaysia, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission and police.
This, he said, is in line with the Malaysian Code of Corporate Governance 2017.
“I would like to stress that the government is committed to ensuring best governance practices at all times,” he told the Dewan Rakyat.
The opposition had previously voiced concern over political appointments at government-linked companies (GLCs), saying it may be a way to reward loyal politicians.
Tengku Zafrul was replying to Lim Guan Eng (PH-Bagan), who asked the minister to state the measures taken to address the decision by Fitch Ratings to downgrade Malaysia’s credit rating.
Lim said even though the 2021 budget was focusing on maintaining the country’s credit rating through fiscal consolidation, “it fails to overcome the dip in credit metric, especially political stability, and failure to adopt good governance and transparency”.
He said this can be seen in directors being replaced at GLCs with political appointees.
On Dec 4, Fitch Ratings downgraded Malaysia’s sovereign rating from “A-” to “BBB+”, with an improved outlook from negative to stable.
Tengku Zafrul said international credit ratings have imposed more than 220 negative ratings since early March, including downgrading sovereign rating for more than 100 countries, including the UK, Hong Kong, Chile and Laos.
He said although the review of Malaysia’s rating is not against the current global trend, Putrajaya has voiced its official view that the decision did not consider the implementation of economic stimulus packages that have led to signs of economic recovery.
He also said Malaysia experienced a lower gross domestic product contraction at 2.7% in the third quarter of this year, “which is among the best in Asean”, compared with a contraction of 17.1% in the second quarter.
Tengku Zafrul said wage subsidy for 2.8 million workers has also reduced unemployment from 5.3% in May to 4.7% in October.
He said Fitch Ratings has projected Malaysia’s growth at 6.7% next year, which is in line with the country’s own projections, showing confidence in the economy to soar again.