PETALING JAYA, Jan 24 — The appointment of political party members and family in Government-Linked Companies (GLCs) is unacceptable, groups said today.

Senior Fellow at the Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs (IDEAS) Edmund Terence Gomez said this was a practice that was a norm when Barisan Nasional was in power and should not be repeated under the new government, following its pledge to reform GLCs.

He said the reasons given on the recent political appointments in statutory bodies were unacceptable as all such entities fall under GLCs.

“Wan Saiful made an important distinction when he referred to the manifesto and said the reform was on GLCs and not statutory bodies.

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“When they say GLCs, it would mean everything… statutory bodies, foundations, trustees and special purpose vehicles,” said Gomez, who added that it is not a viable explanation to say that the manifesto was only applicable to GLCs and not its related entities.

Gomez was responding to Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (PPBM) member Wan Saiful Wan Jan’s appointment as the National Higher Education Fund Corporation (PTPTN) chairman.

He also said the appointment of family members is discouraged and demanded that the government form an independent taskforce to oversee the roles and issues pertaining to GLCs.

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“Family members are also being appointed, not just party members and this is not acceptable too.

“This is the point we are making. When we look at recent appointments and they are being called out, they justify it and defend the appointment. We cannot allow this to happen because we have seen this in the past.

“That is why they themselves have put it in the manifesto ‘we’re going to stop it’, so why are they doing it?

“They have raised too many red flags and this has reinforced our points why we need to institute these reforms properly,” he told a press conference on reforming GLCs for better governance.

The recent appointment of the chair and board member of Amanah Ikhtiar Malaysia (AIM) drew criticism as the AIM chair Datuk Junaidah Kiting is married to Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s political secretary Abu Bakar Yahya, while its board member Nurul Iman Dzulkefly is the daughter of Health Minister Datuk Seri Dzulkefly Ahmad.

The duo had defended their appointments were based on merit.

Earlier, a group consisting of nine civil groups and named the GLC Reform Cluster, had urged the government to form an independent taskforce to deal with the complex issues of GLCs.

Among the NGOs involved in pushing forward the cause to reform GLCs include IDEAS, National Human Rights Society (Hakam), G25, the Center to Combat Corruption and Cronyism (C4 Center), and Gabungan Pembebasan Akademik.

* A previous version of this story contained an error which has since been corrected.