YOURSAY | Faizal Azumu’s appointment an attempt to buy support?

YOURSAY | ‘There’s already a ministry for his supposed role.’

Faizal Azumu appointed special adviser to PM with minister status

COMMENT | Muhyiddin is scraping the bottom of the barrel

Kita Orangbiasa: Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, you already have a minister and a deputy minister of community development.

In addition, you also have a minister and a deputy minister of national unity. And you have various other ministries whose job is to advise you on related matters.

Yet, you are plundering taxpayers’ money by creating a special adviser with minister status (ostensibly to advise you on community relations and communications as well as socio-economic development) that does not bring any added value to your administration.

Ahmad Faizal Azumu is an MP and also an assemblyperson. Where does he has the time to do all his three jobs?

Mind you, we are facing a Covid-19 crisis and the money for this redundant position can be better spent on poor and needy families.

Briclax: Yes, yet another person added to an already bloated cabinet. This has become ludicrous. What are you thinking, Mr Prime Minister? Does it not occur to you that an additional adviser will not improve the welfare of this country?

The unemployment rate has hit the roof, doctors are fighting for the lives of others despite being uncertain of their future, Covid-19 cases have hit 20,000 and the death toll reaching tragic proportions. And all you can do is appoint another adviser.

Something is so absolutely wrong. You are still trying to do every possible thing to hold on to power. Imagine if this effort is redirected towards managing the Covid-19 pandemic.

OCT: Muhyiddin doesn't care about the performance of his ministers. Did he ever reprimand any ministers for violating standard operating procedures (SOPs)? Did he ever sack any of his ministers for non-performance or for failing time and again?

The irony is that Muhyiddin promoted Ismail Sabri Yaakob to deputy prime minister. If he can promote a failure like Ismail Sabri, Faizal’s promotion is no surprise.

It is so easy to become ministers in his cabinet. All that is required is to support him as prime minister when he needs you. Ministers will be rewarded handsomely. After all, all the salaries, perks, allowance, drivers, cars and overseas travel are not paid by Muhyiddin but by the rakyat.

The result of the pandemic mess reflects badly on the ministers. The cabinet meets during office hours only. They don't brainstorm into the night to find ways to fight the pandemic.

However, Muhyiddin and his gang can have frequent night meetings. All these meetings are not about the pandemic but about politics. They have police escorts to ensure nobody disturbed them. All these meetings violate the SOPs.

Imagine if the DAP or the opposition was to hold just one of these meetings. The authorities will swing into action immediately by arresting all of them for violating the SOPs.

Constitutional Supremacy: It is abundantly clear that the prime minister has no majority support to govern.

The anti-PM group has 118, including the 13 Umno MPs who vowed to vote against Muhyiddin (seven more than the 111 majority - two MPs had passed away so currently, we have a total of 220 MPs).

Thus, according to the convention, he should resign together with the cabinet. But instead, a new special adviser is appointed to advice prime minister on community development for which there is already a ministry. Thus, the new appointment with a minister status is redundant.

It is more likely the new appointment is to get more MP support within a month to shore up PN’s numbers to at least 111.

Oriole: Thank you, Malaysiakini columnist Mariam Mokhtar for listing out Faizal’s "achievements". It’s good to be reminded of the facts regularly so that more people can wonder why taxpayers are being made fools of by people like these.

Muhyiddin is failing because he hired the worst people in the land to fatten his cabinet. His idea was that race and religion message would be sufficient for the gullible and so it didn't matter which person held the post. Well, we are paying the price for that sort of mindless, racist ideology.

And you are completely correct in calling out the media hierarchy who colluded with their silence for a good many years as the nation progressively deteriorated. Congratulations to those self-serving, time serving obsequious lot. Look at your work and weep, if you have any sensibility at all.

DoNotKnow: The main issue of Malaysia today: if you were a minister, you could do practically anything with no consequences; if you were a menteri besar from the ruling party, you could test drive a car with no consequences; if you were deputy speaker from the ruling party, you could hold a durian party with no consequences; if you were powerful MP from the ruling party, you could take your family to France for holidays with no consequences; if you were with Felda, you could hold physical meetings with no consequences.

These powerful figures set the example for the rest of Malaysians to follow and yet, everyone wonders why Malaysians do not follow the SOPs?

Fair Malaysian: As House deputy speaker Azalina Othman Said put it succinctly, "A day late, a dollar short."

Muhyiddin has a history - one that is replete with tarnishing anything that we hold dear to. His audio on "scheme of things" and his Youth chief's "offer for votes" made a mockery of his statement recently accusing others of alleged bartering for judicial interference.

His Majesty Yang di-Pertuan Agong should have realised by now how this PN government has been giving a run-around and that the number of daily infections and deaths have been bleeding the hearts of Malaysians and are anxious to expect His Majesty to act, not one or two months later, but now.

The PN government had the emergency but the significance of that was the spike in numbers like we’ve never seen before. It begs the question - what has the PN government done right? 

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