A total of 90 per cent of the 6,118 respondents who voted in the Astro Awani poll thought it is inappropriate to put any Members of Parliament (MPs) with court cases to be part of Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s Unity Government Cabinet.
This poll is actually quite interesting because it represents the voice of the people who want the national cabinet this time to be really healthy, clean and unquestionable.
Even though Anwar insists that “a person is innocent until he is found guilty”; he should also be fair to the country’s biggest stakeholders – the people. This is not the time for favouritism or prioritising the political party.
This time, let those who are appointed as ministers be among those who are able to focus on the process of governing and building the country, as opposed to focusing on court cases that are not necessarily resolved in the very near future.
If they are on the list of cabinet members, any court decision involving them will be disputed.
Win or lose, there will surely be accusations of Putrajaya’s interference, and this will surely make things difficult for Anwar later on.
Therefore, for the moment, forgo the four MPs – Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, Lim Guan Eng, Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman and Datuk Seri Bung Mokhtar Radin from being in the coalition government.
Let them be until they are done with their respective cases. After all, if they are needed, they can be appointed later.
There are still many candidates from among the coalition parties who can be appointed. There are even those with various profiles and backgrounds who can be evaluated, not necessarily among the party leaders.
Anwar also needs to understand the issue of sentiment, by not appointing any figure who made extreme criticism and attacks, especially of a racial nature during the last election.
When this article was written, in the Peninsula, there was indeed a movement from UMNO who lobbied hard, wanting Ahmad Zahid to be appointed as Deputy Prime Minister, due to his role as party leader, and individuals who fought hard to ensure Anwar was “legitimate” as Prime Minister.
Ahmad Zahid is not new to government administration as he has served as Deputy Prime Minister, following the dismissal of Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin by Datuk Seri Mohd Najib Razak in 2015.
Ahmad Zahid was born on January 4, 1953 in Manchester, England. He is the eldest of nine siblings.
Apart from being Najib’s number two, he has also held the portfolio of Minister of Home Affairs since 2013; in addition to serving as Minister of Defence from 2009 to 2013.
Ahmad Zahid has been the Bagan Datuk MP since April 25, 1995. Before that, he started his career as a bank officer and had served at several banks such as OCBC, in addition to serving at Permodalan Nasional Berhad (PNB) as a Marketing Manager at Amanah Saham Nasional Berhad.
In line with his active involvement in politics, he was appointed Executive Director at Scandinavian Motors Sdn Bhd, Chief Executive Officer at Kretam Holding Berhad, Chairman of Tekala Corporation Berhad, Chairman of Seng Hup Berhad, Chairman of Ramatex Berhad and Chairman of Bank Simpanan Nasional (1995-1998).
In 1999, he became the Chairman of Syarikat Perumahan Negara Berhad (SPNB).
In terms of politics, he became head of UMNO Youth, Bagan Datuk Division, deputy head of Perak UMNO Youth, head of Malaysia UMNO Youth Information and head of Malaysia UMNO Youth, before being appointed Najib’s Political Secretary while in the Ministry of Youth and Sports and the Ministry of Defence.
After the 2004 general election, Ahmad Zahid was appointed as Deputy Minister under Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s administration, and in 2008, was appointed as Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department.
He was appointed Minister of Defence in April 2009, before becoming Minister of Home Affairs in 2013, replacing Datuk Seri Hishamuddin Hussein.
When BN lost in GE14, Ahmad Zahid’s life became the spotlight of the authorities. At that time, various cases involving him, especially related to corruption and misuse of power began to reverberate.
Until now, some of those cases are still on-going, and are expected to take a long time to complete.
Regarding the relationship between Ahmad Zahid and Anwar, the two have been close for a long time, and this relationship is considered as student and teacher.
Through a leaked video call, after the last UMNO General Assembly, the two were said to meet often and were planning ‘something’ related to politics and the takeover of power – by using their respective positions and parties.
It is not surprising because the relationship between the two of them has indeed been intimate since 1998, when Ahmad Zahid was the UMNO Youth Leader and Anwar was the UMNO Deputy President and Deputy Prime Minister at the time.
Ahmad Zahid was the main character who attacked Tun Mahathir Mohamad in the UMNO Youth General Assembly, by portraying him as a corrupt person, and a practitioner of cronyism and nepotism.
It opened the door to a war between Anwar and Mahathir, leading to Anwar’s subsequent dismissal.
Ahmad Zahid, who was involved, later made an open confession on TV, admitting that he was manipulated by Anwar and publicly apologised to Mahathir – an action that saved his political career.
Therefore, if anyone guesses that Ahmad Zahid will be in the position of Deputy Prime Minister one day, it is not impossible, if we consider his sacrifice and struggle for Anwar.
Therefore, the people have their say in the poll, even according to political and government analysts, Ahmad Zahid’s name should not be in the list of cabinet members of the Unity Government.
