Let me congratulate YB Tengku Dato Seri Zafrul for his political appointment as Minister of Finance, despite the unethical and immoral way of the legally elected Pakatan Harapan government was brought down, to make way for the new Muhyiddin Yassin administration.
With Malaysia seeing its first non-MP Finance Minister, it would be important for him to publicly state his pledge on 2 items, that concerns all Malaysians.
First, is that he will never aid and abet any act of kleptocracy, corruption and direct awards, and would stick to the principles of good governance and open tender. We cannot afford for the rakyat’s money to enrich any current cabinet members or their cronies.
Secondly, he has to pledge to stand up for the man on the street. The minister of finance not only plays an important role in managing the country’s finances, but also the rules of which the banking system in this country operates. It is crucial that our incoming minister not cosy up to the banking sector, or be pro banks to the extend that the consumer protection and banking assistance to the Rakyat is affected. Examples to this are charges imposed by banks for various services, terms and conditions of SME loans, etc.
It is understandable that we have this concern, as his background is very much from the banking sector. It is now important that his leanings, focus and priorities is for the safeguarding the country’s coffers, growing the economy and protecting the rakyat’s banking interests as well as their financial well-being through sound policies and just implementation of programs.