ADUN SPEAKS | Politically appointed envoys serve no special purpose

ADUN SPEAKS | It is a truism to state that the new government of Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob is nothing but a recycled government.

Not only were most of the new ministers and deputy ministers from the former government of Muhyiddin Yassin, but there is even no change in the appointment of the special envoys for the Arab world, China and East Asia.

PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang, Tiong King Sing of the Progressive Democratic Party, and Richard Riot of the Sarawak United People’s Party have been retained as special envoys.

Hadi, Tiong, and Riot have been retained as special envoys for the Middle East, China, and East Asia respectively.

These appointments are made not with the expectation of improving the relations between regions or countries and Malaysia.

They are political appointments to appease their respective political parties that are within the Perikatan Nasional coalition.

Hadi might have religious and language credentials, but other than these, I am not sure whether he has professional and diplomatic qualities to enhance the relationship between Malaysia and the Middle East or the countries in the region.

Hadi might be a fireband when it comes to religious exhortations but he is poorly equipped to understand the dynamics of the countries in the Middle East.

He is dead set against Israel but has no understanding as to why some Arab countries have slowly developed good relations with Israel.

Even on the controversial topic of the Palestinian state, Hadi has no clue how to proceed on the matter, other than echoing the usual line of calling for the destruction of the state of Israel.

Even some Arab countries are not comfortable with this perspective, something that is counter-productive to the very survival of the state of Palestine.

Whether it is a coincidence or not, the appointment of Hadi as the special envoy to the Middle East has come at a time when relations between Israel and some Arab countries are thawing.

I don’t think Hadi has ever commented on this matter or he probably lacks the intellectual insight to do so.

The appointment of Tiong as the special envoy to China is no different from the appointment of Hadi.

But unlike Hadi, Tiong does not pretend that he is well-versed on matters relating to China.

Even though he has been in the position for some time, I have yet to know of his contributions in enhancing bilateral relations between Malaysia and China.

The Chinese government’s treatment of the Muslim Uighurs is something that is of great concern to Malaysians, particularly to the Muslims here.

I doubt that Tiong, being a businessperson, might be interested in human rights violations in China.

In fact, since Hadi and Tiong are paid their salaries from taxpayers' money, surely the Malaysian government would be responsible enough to publish their accomplishments to date, if any.

Riot from Sarawak is another politician like Hadi and Tiong.

He was the former minister of human resources in the BN government, but his performance left much to be desired.

In fact, during his tenure, many were not aware that he was the minister.

Apparently, he spent more time in Sarawak than taking up his federal position seriously.

East Asia is a big region; it consists of China, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan.

If Riot could not efficiently manage his ministerial position, how he is going to manage and enhance the ties of this region with Malaysia?

Malaysia has much to gain, but can Riot do the job that he has been assigned to?

What has he accomplished in the recent past? Anything that we could be proud of?

It is manifestly clear that the candidates have been appointed to their respective posts for political reasons.

It is a sort of political appeasement by the PN government.

The appointments have come with costs that will have to be borne by the taxpayers.

Knowing that these individuals will have no contribution to make, their appointments are a terrible waste of resources.

Do we need these appointments?

RAMASAMY PALANISAMY is Perai assemblyperson and deputy chief minister II of Penang.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.