Malaysian political landscape is currently buzzing as many questioned the decision of the Prime Minister (PMX), Dato’ Seri Anwar Ibrahim to elect his daughter, Nurul Izzah, as Senior Economic and Financial Advisor in the Prime Minister's Department (PMD) and the Ministry of Finance (MOF).
According to Bernama, Anwar stated the election was made due to Nurul Izzah's qualifications as she has a first degree in engineering and a second one in public and social policy from Johns Hopkins University, United States.
While the election is legal, it sure lit fires under several experts and the opposition, opposing the election, despite the pro-bono nature of the job and Izzah’s academic accolade, saying that she is underqualified to be elected for the advisory role.
According to Free Malaysia Today (FMT), opposition block leader, Hamzah Zainuddin, stated the nepotism that occurred in Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR), should not be practiced in the nation's governance as it will bring a bad image to the nation.
“Anwar's nepotism practice by electing his daughter as senior advisor of the economy and financial to the prime minister is a betrayal towards Malaysian,” says Hamzah.
Hamzah stated the election is unreasonable and against the practice of integrity, corruption, and good governance, as well as asked for Anwar to walk the talk as he often preached on the subject.
The sentiments are also supported by experts such as the Chief Executive Officer of Center of Market Education, Carmelo Ferlito, as reported by Sinar Harian.
Carmelo stated, Nurul Izzah is not suitable for the position due to her lack of specific background in economics and finance, which are needed to work as an advisor or counsellor.
Moreover, Carmello added that her lack of qualification may bring more harm to the nation despite the good intention as electing an unsuitable advisor is a bad policy.
The irony of the situation is blatant, as the subject of good governance and cronyism are often featured in the PMX speech, right after his election, especially with his move of ending the service of politically elected public servants and direct negotiation tender deals in an effort to reduce corruption and cronyism.
FMT also adds more salt to the wound as they reported that, even the head of Transparency International Malaysia (TI-M) questioned Anwar’s decision to elect Nurul Izzah as his advisor, despite his claim against nepotism.
It is probably not surprising to see reports by FMT on Malaysia's lower score in the annual global corruption index again, with a 47 score in 2022, compare to 48 in 2021.
Guess it is only nepotism if it’s done by others.
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