LETTER | Why Tengku Zafrul should resign

LETTER | Finance Minister Tengku Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz has to quit if he ever wishes to spare the present government any more embarrassment, and the people, any more anxiety.

This is the first time the finance portfolio is assumed by a non-politician. The only other bureaucrat finance minister was Nor Mohamed Yakcop but he was only finance minister II.

The finance portfolio by its very nature is a political post that is ill-suited for Tengku Zafrul's (above) pedigree. You need someone who's got his or her hands on the pulse of the nation, not someone more accustomed to sifting through charts and statistics in spacious conference rooms detached from the harsh realities of life.

The controversy over Bank Negara's announcement concerning the six-month moratorium for hire purchase loans and fixed-rate Islamic financing was a case in point. While the central bank has clarified that there was no change in its position, it was a public relations disaster which has caused untold damage to the Muhyiddin Yassin administration and the country's psyche.

It took more than 24 hours for Tengku Zafrul to respond, despite the barrage of criticisms the ministry had come under. In fact on Twitter, #bankerjagabanker was trending in Malaysia with tens of thousands of attacks against Tengku Zafrul, a former banker before joining politics.

In terms of perception, the public was upset that Tengku Zafrul appeared more ready to side with the bankers than the people from whom the government's power derived from. In politics, perception is everything, although in this case, Bank Negara was to be blamed for the miscommunications.

And when Tengku Zafrul finally released some media soundbites on the issue, it was too little too late. He had asked banks to waive the interests during the moratorium period. Why didn't he say this earlier?

The Prihatin package, which had mentioned the moratorium, was announced by Muhyiddin in early April. Did Tengku Zafrul say anything then? Or was he still behaving like a banker?

Even top leaders from Perikatan Nasional have reservations about Tengku Zafrul's eligibility. They include former finance minister Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah and former minister Azalina Othman Said.

We are living in extraordinary times and we just cannot afford to have someone learning the ropes while a crisis of unprecedented proportions in developing. The finance minister has to hit the ground running.

The past few weeks have shown that Tengku Zafrul is not capable of running the country's coffers. 

He should do the honourable thing and spare the country more troubles and immediately resign.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.

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