The Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs (IDEAS) said Najib Razak’s tenure saw 301 political appointees, the most among the five prime ministers listed in its Pantau Kuasa database.
Najib’s successor, Dr Mahathir Mohamad, made 86 political appointments during his 22 months in the top post. However, IDEAS did not have any data on Mahathir’s first tenure as prime minister from 1981 to 2003.
Anwar’s immediate predecessor, Ismail Sabri Yaakob made a total of 273 political appointments between August 2021 and November 2022, while Muhyiddin Yassin, made 186 political appointments as prime minister between February 2020 and August 2021.
“We are able to track 95 political appointees under Anwar’s administration, with 79 of them in federal statutory bodies (FSBs) and 16 in GLCs,” IDEAS’s public finance unit assistant manager Doris Liew said.
“By political affiliation, we found that across the administrations, from Najib’s to Anwar’s, Umno had the highest number of political appointments in FSBs, at 410, followed by Bersatu with 116 and PAS with 53.”
In July, Anwar revealed that the government made a total of 117 political appointments to various FSBs and companies under Minister of Finance Incorporated.
Anwar, who is also the finance minister, said the candidates were vetted by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission, the insolvency department, the Federal Court chief registrar’s office, Bank Negara Malaysia, the police and the Inland Revenue Board.
He added that his government would introduce a new law to govern FSBs and their subsidiaries.
Speaking at a press conference, Liew expressed hope that the unity government would enact this new legislation soon, saying MPs and assemblymen in the government bloc were meant to act as a check and balance for the FSBs and GLCs.
“Therefore, having them (MPs and assemblymen) on their board of directors presents a conflict of interest.
“We hope our updated Pantau Kuasa website will be an avenue for the public to track individual political appointees and make their own judgements,” she said.
The Pantau Kuasa website was first launched by IDEAS in September 2021 to track political appointments in statutory bodies under three federal administrations, from 2015 to 2021.
In October 2022, it was updated to show political appointments in such bodies under the Muhyiddin and Ismail administrations.
The third update unveiled today includes political appointments in 283 GLCs across five administrations.
“IDEAS encourages the public to provide contributions and feedback in a feedback form on the website to help strengthen the transparency and accountability of our public institutions,” said Alissa Rode, a senior manager with its public finance unit.