KUALA LUMPUR - A former aide to Malaysia’s Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has been appointed chairman of two public listed companies in just over a week, raising concerns over close links between theMr Farhash Wafa Salvador, Datuk Seri Anwar’s former political secretary who is known as his “blue-eyed boy” within Parti Keadilan Rakyat , secured the two company chairmanships in a span of eight days, afterMr Farhash was appointed as chairman of convenience store chain 7-Eleven Malaysia Holdings...
“Over the past month, Mr Anwar has outperformed expectations, so this is the first sign of trouble even though it was his former political secretary ... PKR members find it surprising that someone with less experience compared to other senior qualified people can gain such influence,” said a political analyst who declined to be named.was also appointed to top corporate roles, such as in Tan Sri Vincent Tan’s RM10 billion Kuala Lumpur Linear City mega project.
But critics say the appointments are unethical and point to cronyism within the Anwar administration, which has championed for reforms and is against cronyism and corruption. “Right now, the appointments have nothing to do with the government because Mr Farhash has been appointed by a private company. The public should watch out and see if the government does something against the law,” the Perikatan Nasional secretary-general told The Straits Times.
An economist, speaking on condition of anonymity, said even though the positions are in private companies, business confidence in Malaysia could deteriorate as the government may be influenced to choose tenders from such corporations.On Wednesday, 7-Eleven’s share price jumped by almost 3.4 per cent to RM1.83 in early day trading on news that Mr Farhash had replaced Datuk Seri Robin Tan, son of major shareholder Mr Tan, who helmed the position for just over a year. The share price closed at RM1.
straits_times Isn’t this what the corporate always praised upon called “networking”?