When hiring family is not nepotism

Tourism Minister Nazri Abdul Aziz may have drawn a lot of flak for hiring his own son as an aide, but he has found sympathy among some of his political opponents.

One of them is Selangor DAP chief Teresa Kok, although she did not hire any family members. The DAP veteran believes that most politicians do not like to hire family, but sometimes, there are few other options.

“But then, when you have someone close to your family who is good in certain fields or can assist in your career, what’s wrong with it?” she told Malaysiakini.

Kok was asked to elaborate on her Aug 16 Facebook posting, where she explained that many elected representatives had difficulty finding dedicated and loyal staff.

Kok, who was a Selangor exco member between April 2008 and May 2013, said she had changed 10 of her staff members since 2008 due to a range of problems, which include sabotage.

She pointed out that having an aide turn against you was not uncommon, citing how Mohd Ezam Mohd Nor was once one of PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim's closest aides-turned-enemy.

“We must understand that hiring relatives to be assistants is not the same as giving projects and goodies to them or practising nepotism,” said Kok, who is also the Seputeh MP.

'What if Nedim is a lawyer?'

She added that suitability and trustworthiness is what politicians - or any employer - are looking for when making hiring decisions, including when hiring relatives.

However, she qualified her statement, stressing that just because a person is a relative doesn’t guarantee loyalty.

On Aug 14, it was reported that Nazri had appointed his son Nedim as his special officer in the Tourism Ministry.

Today, Nedim has been redesignated as Nazri’s aide for his parliamentary constituency of Padang Rengas instead, but not before sparking allegations of cronyism and nepotism.

The episode also forced Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng to explain the appointment of relatives by several state executive councillors in his administration, stressing that they were not under the state’s payroll.

Kok opined that Nedim's appointment was only a controversy because of his chequered history.

“Can you imagine if Nazri’s son is a human rights fighter, a prominent lawyer and is not on government payroll, will the reaction from the public be that strong against him?” she said.

Grumbles over daughter's appointment

Meanwhile, Seri Andalas assemblyperson Dr A Xavier Jeyakumar echoed Kok’s sentiments, saying that people should not come into position - including in political party positions - simply because of their parent’s influence.

However, he said there has not been enough public discourse on the issue and it is largely ignored.

“If there is open debate and there is enough discourse in the country and people are given the opportunity to talk about it and discuss about it, then we will be in a better position to understand what the feelings of the general public are,” he said.

As an example, he said he had previously employed his daughter, who is a lawyer by training, in 2008 as an assistant during his tenure as a Selangor state executive councillor.

This caused ‘grumblings’ from within PKR and he had to sack his daughter in 2010, although he believes that she has done a good job.

“There was so much hue and cry from within the party. To me, since people do not accept it, then it should be across the board. It should not be specific cases.

“But as long as someone proves themselves to be in a position to be capable, of course we should support them then,” he said.