PAKATAN Harapan has pledged that should it win Putrajaya, the administration will not see the prime minister holding the finance minister’s post.

Amanah deputy president Salahuddin Ayub said his party had even agreed that it would not be part of the Cabinet if the finance minister’s post remained with the prime minister.

“The reason for this is to ensure the separation of power, and checks and balances in the administration of the country,” he said at the PH Save Malaysia ceramah in Sg Tiram, Johor Bahru, last night.

He said one of the causes of Malaysia’s economic troubles was having a prime minister who also controlled the Finance Ministry, and claimed that this had led to abuse of power and corruption.

Presently, Prime Minister Najib Razak is also finance minister – a very senior and powerful government post.

Salahuddin pledged that PH would also make sure that the best person was appointed as finance minister, regardless of race.

“When the finance minister was a Chinese, Tun Tan Siew Sin, Malays reaped the most benefits.

“When Tan was finance minister, Tun (Abdul) Razak (Hussein), the then prime minister, introduced the New Economic Policy that led to the founding of Petronas, Pernas, Majlis Amanah Rakyat, Institut Teknologi Mara and others that were specially set up to help Malays.”

The late Tan, who was also MCA chairman, held the finance minister’s post from 1959 to 1974.

Salahuddin said the first task of the PH prime minister would be to set up a Cabinet with the best and most capable people for Malaysia, without looking at race.

“The issue at hand would not be about appointing Malays, Chinese or Indians. We want to have the best people in the Cabinet.”

Other speakers at the ceramah included Bersatu vice-president Rashid Asari, DAP’s Stulang assemblyman Andrew Chen and PKR vice-president Nurul Izzah Anwar.

Chen said his presence at the gathering proved that reports by a media outlet that DAP would not join the event were false.

He agreed that the new Cabinet would need the best people, such as a capable foreign minister who could repair Malaysia’s marred international reputation due to the 1Malaysia Development Berhad scandal.

“Najib damaged Malaysia’s good name through the scandal. We need to rectify this by appointing the best person to be foreign minister.”

He said PH would assemble together the best diplomats to solve the 1MDB issue, and repatriate at least 50% of the 1MDB funds now frozen by foreign authorities.

“Singapore, Switzerland and the US have frozen the funds. We will talk to them and try to bring back the money.”

The 1MDB scandal has led to investigations in Singapore, Switzerland, the US and other countries.

Recently, the US Department of Justice launched a criminal investigation into money allegedly stolen from 1MDB, delaying civil suits filed over the past two years to forfeit more than US$1 billion (RM4.28 billion) in real estate and other assets. – September 23, 2017.