Nurul Izzah Anwar, the 42-year-old eldest daughter of Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, has triggered public uproar after her appointment as Senior Advisor to the 10th Prime Minister on Economics and Finance. This was effective January 3, 2023. She is working “pro-bono” or free without any salary or allowances, but it is still raising some brouhaha with people of a “righteous” background. On the surface, it screams “nepotism” – an extremely negative subject in a country where hundreds of billions of Ringgit have been lost through corruption, cronyism, favouritism and nepotism over 60 years under the previous governments.
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org
Nepotism, in layman terms, means the act of using your power or influence to get good jobs or unfair advantages for members of your own family. Essentially, Bill Gates would have committed nepotism if he appoints any of his three kids, Jennifer, Rory and Phoebe, for top jobs at Microsoft.
So, they attack her qualification. For example, opposition Bersatu deputy president Ahmad Faizal Azumu asked whether she is qualified for the post as she only has a bachelor’s degree in engineering. Azumu should instead look at his own below-average credentials. He only holds a Masters Degree in Political Science from Universiti Teknologi Malaysia. Worse, Ahmad Faizal is tainted with a dubious Business Studies degree from Edith Cowan University, Australia. Nurul did her bachelor’s degree in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from the Universiti Tenaga Nasional. She then furthered her studies in the U.S., graduating with a a Master’s degree in public policy from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.
A so-called think-tank – the Center for Market Education (CME) – has expressed serious concerns about the appointment of PKR vice-president Nurul Izzah, arguing that she does not possess any specific background in economics or finance. Don’t you have colourful economists like Janet Yellen or Ben Bernanke getting it wrong? Even Alan Greenspan admitted he could be held responsible for the “irrational exuberance” in the markets.
Some might argue why the prime minister can’t appoint an outsider. The question is whether someone without any personal or business agenda would be interested to work as Special Advisor on pro-bono basis – without stirring up racial and religion sentiments.
If there’s such talent, the country would not be in such a mess in the first place. Critics appear to assume the Special Advisor must be a genius in economy and finance to be qualified. In truth, such brilliant economists and financial experts, if they do exist, may have already migrated.
The Centre to Combat Corruption and Cronyism (C4) similarly condemned Nurul’s appointment as not only nepotism, but a conflict of interest. Do they understand the meaning of conflict of interest? It is a situation in which a person is in a position to derive personal benefit from actions or decisions made in their official capacity. But a conflict cannot happen if there is no interest to begin with.
Some other critics argue that Nurul should join an NGO instead to advise her father. Have they forgotten how Rosmah Mansor ran the country disguised as the wife of former PM Najib Razak who never interfered in the government affairs? Rosmah too had a special programme called “Permata” which she believed to be a non-profit organization. Yet, the so-called charity organization was allocated million in the Budget 2015 alone. Since its inception in 2007, nobody knows how billions of Ringgit had been spent or channelled from Permata. This shows you don’t need to directly work under the prime minister to steal money.
Ivanka Trump and husband Jared Kushner both served as senior advisors to former U.S. President Donald Trump. Even though the POTUS’ daughter and son-in-law were not paid a salary for their work, they made between US$24 million and US$121 million during their final year working in the White House.
The scope of economy and finance is very broad. Is Nurul appointed to single-handedly fix the country’s national debt of RM1.5 trillion or to strengthen the Ringgit currency to RM2.50 to a U.S. dollar? Or is she appointed just to channel economic advice based on real problems on the ground because PM Anwar could not fully trust apple polishers or officials with ulterior motives around him?
It’s worth noting that Nurul Izzah, whose journey in politics began in 1998, had resigned as vice president of PKR and announced she would no longer serve the federal government in any capacity back in December 2018 because the principled “Princess of Reformasi” disagreed with how her father ran the party, not to mention how then-PM Mahathir ran the government.
All the best Nurul – just form a small, informed group of well-heeled economists to “bounce-off” ideas. Perhaps, you don’t need that since your father has appointed a small group of economists anyway.
Reference:
Nurul’s appointment as Economic Advisor – here’s why critics might have over-reacted excessively, FinanceTwitter, 31 January 2023
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