FOUR top officials of the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC), including its chairman and chief operating officer, have relinquished their positions, said communications and multimedia minister Gobind Singh Deo.

Their letters of resignation, effective next month, were tendered on Monday (June 25).

“There is a total of four officers who have tendered their resignations, including chairman Halim and COO Mazlan,” Gobind told reporters at the ministry’s Hari Raya celebration in Putrajaya today.

He was referring to MCMC chairman Halim Shafie and COO Mazlan Ismail.

“I will issue an official statement on the matter tomorrow.

(Because of) various reasons I’m not going to go into details now, but when I issue my statement we will give you the details,” he said.

He said replacements for the vacated positions will be announced in the near future and the ministry is also looking at several recommendations to improve MCMC, including separating the position of CEO and chairman of the agency. 

“There are several recommendations that have to be refined,” he said.

Mazlan previously contested in the Permatang Pauh parliamentary seat under the Barisan Nasional ticket in the 13th general election. 

On the possibillity of a merger of two media entities under the ministry’s control, Radio Televisyen Malaysia (RTM) and Malaysian National News Agency (Bernama), Gobind said a committee is being set up to look into the matter.

In a recent interview with The Malaysian Reserve, Gobind, who is also Puchong MP, said the proposal was part of efforts to reduce operation costs. – June 28, 2018.