‘Brotherly proof of premier nepotism’
By Free Malaysia Today
“During the Mahathir and Abdullah eras we had their children’s involvement. Perhaps we can describe the current administration as an administration by siblings,” he said.
Describing the Barisan Nasional leadership as mirroring “ostriches who buried their heads”, Mahfuz said it was only time “before the people kicked them out.”
KUALA LUMPUR: Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak’s younger brother Nazir has proven that nepotism was still rife in Putrajaya, according to PAS vice-president Mahfuz Omar. Taking a swipe at Nazir’s “miscalculated” comments on the plunge in Foreign Direct Investments (FDI), he said: “I must congratulate him for being the new spokesman for Najib’s Cabinet.”
“Nazir’s statement is a reminder to Malaysians that nepotism is still rife in Putrajaya,” he added.
Mahfuz claimed that the CIMB group chief’s comments was a clear reminder to Malaysians that the culture of nepotism as practiced in the administrations of former premiers Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, was still alive.
“During the Mahathir and Abdullah eras we had their children’s involvement. Perhaps we can describe the current administration as an administration by siblings,” he said.
Describing the Barisan Nasional leadership as mirroring “ostriches who buried their heads”, Mahfuz said it was only time “before the people kicked them out.”
However, Mahfuz did credit Nazir for indicating that the government was painfully aware of the drop in FDI.
“Considering there are no more comments from any of the Cabinet members or for that matter from Najib, at least Nazir’ statement shows that the Najib administration is admitting to the drop.
“It is now clear that the figures are not contorted by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (Uuctad). They (the government) are not giving out any more ridiculous reasons to justify the plunge in FDI,” he said.
Earlier this week, Bernama reported Nazir as saying that the FDI plunge was not necessarily negative.
The top banker had reportedly said that it was “not necessarily a bad thing” to have lower net investment flow for the country as what was important was the quality of investments.
Nazir had instead urged that the 2009 plunge in Malaysia’s FDI be studied carefully before jumping to conclusions.
‘The fact is Malaysia is unappealing’
PAS’ Kuala Selangor MP Dzulkefly Ahmad, however, felt otherwise, saying that it did not negate the fact that Malaysia was no more a choice with the investors.
“While I understand his (Nazir’s) meaning of ‘quality investment’ and ‘timing’, his comment, however, is not able to dispute the fact that Malaysia is no longer the investment hub under the radar of investors both foreign and local,” he said.
