Nur Jazlan to be picked for Cabinet post?

Zam speculates chairman of parliament's watchdog may be hot new face in post-Raya reshuffle

KUALA LUMPUR: Former information minister Zainuddin Maidin has speculated that the chairman of the Public Accounts Committee, Nur Jazlan Mohamed, may be a hot new face to be included in a post-Hari Raya cabinet reshuffle.

Zainuddin, who was once chief editor of Utusan Malaysia, wrote in his blog today that Prime Minister Najib Razak may be prepared to appoint even someone who could be a potential threat to him.

He said it was in keeping with Najib’s non-confrontational manner, and his belief in constructive engagement to do so.

Talk of a possible Cabinet reshuffle after the Aidilfitri holidays has been making the rounds, with Mingguan Malaysia’s columnist Awang Selamat also putting up the name of Johor Bahru MP Shahrir Samad as a possible new inclusion.

Shahrir, a former minister in the 1980s, has also headed the Public Accounts Committee, which is parliament’s watchdog on government spending.

Nur Jazlan, as head of the bipartisan committee, has been conducting hearings into the affairs of 1Malaysia Development Bhd, the government-owned investment company which has been the subject of intense public criticism against the prime minister.

Zainuddin said it was not impossible for Najib to include potential threats, and predicted that Nur Jazlan would be among the new faces.

He said Nur Jazlan had acted in a non-partisan manner in conducting inquiries into government expenditure, and had promised in a blog article last month to investigate 1MDB in a fair, transparent and accountable manner.

Whether Nur Jazlan would accept the offer to be a Cabinet member would depend on whether he believed he would be more effective in carrying out reforms from within, Zainuddin said.

It also depended on whether Nur Jazlan’s self-interest or public interest would come first.

Ominously, Zainuddin added that it would also depend on Nur Jazlan’s belief in Najib’s ability to continue as prime minister or whether he believed Najib’s time was up.

The prime minister is under intense pressure to step down, not only from Opposition politicians but more significantly from former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad who has led a public campaign against him for months.

Nur Jazlan, MP for Pulai, has a family background in Umno politics. His father, Mohamad Rahmat, was an Umno stalwart from Johor, an information minister and head of Umno information bureau in the 1980s and 1990s.