KUCHING, June 5 — Santubong MP Datuk Seri Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar wants to know if Latheefa Koya has the necessary credentials that made her the top choice for the highest post in the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) instead of its own officers.
A lawyer by training, the Sarawak federal lawmaker suggested that senior MACC officers should have been considered first to replace Datuk Seri Mohd Shukri Abdull as chief commissioner.
“I just hope that there is no feeling of demoralisation among the senior officers because everyone was expected to be promoted.
“Then all of a sudden, somebody was plucked from thin air to become the new commissioner,” he told reporters at Sarawak Chief Minister Datuk Abang Johari Openg’s Hari Raya open house at the Borneo Convention Centre Kuching here today.
Wan Junaidi, a former senior police officer before entering politics, said it takes years of investigating experience to enable a person appointed to the top post to direct officers on what to do, claiming that Latheefa does not have such experience.
“As far as I am concerned, I disagree with her appointment because it is political in nature.
“She said she has quit PKR after receiving her letter of appointment, but in her heart and spirit, she is still PKR and very influential at that,” he said.
Latheefa’s appointment as MACC chief commissioner was announced by the Prime Minister’s Office yesterday. It added that the appointment was effective from June 1, before she disclosed her resignation as a PKR member on June 3.
To Wan Junaidi, the leadership change at MACC was another example of the PH administration’s failure to keep its GE14 promise for no political appointees to key government posts.
He said no amount of explanation by the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government can convince anybody that Latheefa’s appointment is not political, citing Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia as example.
He noted that Pandikar had resigned from all Umno when he was appointed as Dewan Rakyat Speaker but continued to be perceived as a Barisan Nasional man.
Wan Junaidi said the people will look at Latheefa on how she will discharge her responsibilities as the new MACC chief in the coming months or years.
“I just hope that there is no selective prosecution and investigation,” he said, pointing out that there are already talks of selective prosecution by the PH federal government.
“What has happened to over 10 court cases involving PH leaders which have been dropped while in the midst of trial?” he asked.
