The source told FMT that Kamarul, a political analyst, worked as a special officer to Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob, advising him on policy issues.

The matter came to light after the PMO uploaded a poster today of an event that Kamarul was going to attend. In the poster, the lecturer’s designation was given as “special officer to the prime minister”.

FMT has reached out to the PMO for comment.

Last year, opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim urged UUM to launch an investigation into Kamarul for allegedly stoking religious tensions in comments made about DAP MP Steven Sim.

This was related to Sim’s assistance to a Malay youth who was facing some tough times and it was “made an issue” by the academic.

Kamarul reportedly accused the Bukit Mertajam MP of “Christianisation” and warned Malay-Muslims against accepting help from “Christian evangelists”.

The lecturer had been at the centre of multiple defamation suits, including one that was filed by Segambut MP Hannah Yeoh in March over Facebook posts he made in 2017.

A defamation suit brought by Kamarul against Shah Alam MP Khalid Samad was also dismissed by the Kuala Lumpur sessions court last month.

The KL sessions court also struck out another defamation suit brought by Kamarul against seven DAP leaders last month as the trial judge’s orders were not complied with.

Speaking to FMT, Kamarul confirmed the report, adding that he did not go public with his appointment as he wanted to keep a low profile.

Kamarul pointed out that his work at the PMO did not involve political work or policy matters but only research tasks.

“I am a professional, there is nothing controversial about me. The defamation suit between me and some opposition leaders are old personal issues that have nothing to do with my current job,” he said.