KUALA LUMPUR – The appointments of Ahmad Idham Ahmad Nadzri and Datuk Seri Eizlan Yusof as cultural secretary and creative consultant respectively for the Foreign Ministry was initiated based on a very minimal budget, said its minister Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah.
Speaking at the Dewan Rakyat today, Saifuddin said Idham was appointed to the position under the special functions officer role at the ministry, which carries a Grade 54 pay scale.
“Idham resigned from his position as Malaysian National Film Development Corporation (Finas) CEO, which carries the Jusa B pay scale, to his current position, which is an almost 50% salary cut.
“While I appointed Eizlan as a creative consultant without any salary.
“As such both are undertaking their new roles as a national service for the country,” he said during the ministerial question time session.
Saifuddin was answering a question by Fahmi Fadzil (Lembah Pantai-PKR) on the rational and financial implication of appointing both men into the ministry and whether funds used for the appointment could have been utilised to alleviate the burden of families affected by Covid-19.
The appointments, he said, was to aid the ministries related to cultural development namely the Communications and Multimedia Ministry and the Tourism, Arts and Culture Ministry.
“As such, the ministry aimed at strengthening its cultural diplomacy facilitation abroad. Our weakness is at our overseas engagement level.
Compared with Indonesia, which has the director-general role similar to the deputy secretary-general level in the ministry put in charge of cultural and public diplomacy, he said, the ministry had previously only had an officer in charge with a Grade 54 pay scale.
“Given the circumstances, there was a need to revamp the management of our cultural diplomacy without affecting our budget as this was laid out after the budget was announced,” he added.
To a subsequent question by Fahmi on the involvement of Idham during the political campaigning in Melaka, Saifuddin said that officers appointed by him, with the exception of two officers under the civil service such as his senior private undersecretary and administrative and diplomatic officer, are allowed to participate in politics at their own discretion. – The Vibes, November 23, 2021
