TAJUDDIN Abdul Rahman will not be the last career politician appointed an ambassador, political analysts said, as the government’s decision to appoint the controversial MP ambassador to Indonesia continues to draw flak.

Experts said, while there are other qualified people for such posts, it is normal for the government to reward politicians by handing them diplomatic positions, and it has been doing so since the 1970s.

James Chin, a political analyst at the University of Tasmania said Tajuddin’s appointment should not come as a shock because Malaysia has been appointing politicians with debatable track records as ambassadors for decades.

“Usually, it is a reward for politicians who are willing to step down or step out or lose the election,” Chin told The Malaysian Insight.

“There have been a lot of political appointees as ambassador to Indonesia, just like that to Washington DC, it’s a political appointee. To me, it’s not a big deal.

“(Yet) in the age of social media and of the controversies he has generated, people are attacking him,” the academic noted.

Chin said that politicians will continue to be selected for diplomatic missions regardless of which party is in government.

“Of course, we the people hope the government will be more rational, appoint somebody who is more acceptable and of high standing, but given the nature of this government, that is an impossible thing to ask.

“Even in the future if Pakatan Harapan was in power, sooner or later it will make some funny guy an ambassador as a reward. Probably not as high profile as Indonesia, but I’m sure the coalition will do it.”

However, Chin said Tajuddin should step aside as a parliamentarian.

“Of course he won’t. He will be very much a fly by past MP.”

The Pasir Salak MP confirmed yesterday he had been appointed ambassador to Indonesia and that it was approved by President Joko Widodo.

Tajuddin will replace Zainal Abidin Bakar, a career diplomat who has been ambassador since 2018.

The 74-year-old lawmaker is no stranger to controversy. He was previously fired as head of the government’s public transport operator Prasarana after making insensitive remarks in the aftermath of a Kuala Lumpur LRT collision that injured hundreds of passengers.

He was also fined for breaching regulation 17 of the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases (Measures within the Infected Local Areas) Regulations 2021 when he appeared wearing a face shield without a mask during a press conference following the crash.

About a month later, he was fined again for breaching Covid-19 protocol by not wearing a mask in Parliament.

In May last year, he was also arrested by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission to assist in allegations of abuse of power for giving a friend a job in Prasarana.

Then in July, he was fired as Umno’s election director after an audio file of him criticising party president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi was leaked on social media.

Oh Ei Sun of the Singapore Institute of International Affairs also said political appointments to diplomatic posts is the norm.

However, he said previous appointments were of much higher calibre than Tajuddin.

“This is not the first political appointment for a major ambassadorial post. Musa Hitam was made permanent representative to the UN, while Jamaluddin Jarjis was made ambassador to the US.

“Yet both of them were widely considered to be well- and even over-qualified for their jobs, and had indeed done well to enhance Malaysia’s ties.

“With Tajuddin and his LRT public-relations debacle in mind, it could only be earnestly hoped that Malaysia-Indonesia ties would still be able to be maintained cordially under his watch,” Oh said.

Musa was elected chairman of the UN’s Human Rights Commission in 1995, while Rompin MP Jamaluddin was the US ambassador from 2009 to 2012.

Following his tenure as ambassador, Jamaluddin was later appointed Malaysia’s special envoy to the US, during which US president Barack Obama made his first official visit to Malaysia in April 2014, the first by a sitting US president since President Lyndon B. Johnson’s trip back in 1966.

Not qualified

International Islamic University of Malaysia’s Tunku Mohar Tunku Mohd Mokhtar said Tajuddin is not qualified to be the head of a diplomatic mission given his past track record.

“It is indeed controversial, considering his track record of insensitive and vulgar remarks in Parliament and during his tenure as Prasarana chairman,” he said.

“While there is nothing wrong with political appointments in diplomatic practice, the government should not appoint a legislator to the post.”

While Tunku Mohar noted that Jamaluddin held his post in the US while serving as Rompin MP, this practice should stop.

“There are other well-trained and well-mannered diplomats who are easily more qualified than Tajuddin.”

In a statement today, Muda deputy president Thanussha Xavier said Tajuddin’s appointment was disappointing given his lack of professionalism.

“Malaysia should appoint an individual with integrity, who is diplomatic and capable of representing us in Indonesia.

“It is clear that individual is not Tajuddin,” she said.

“Is he going to bring the same attitude (as he showed during the LRT crash) when executing his responsibility as the ambassador to Indonesia?” Xavier asked.

Tajuddin did not attend the site of the crash, which left 213 injured, until much later. He claimed that he was informed long after the incident, adding that this was why he decided to go to the location “first thing in the morning”.

Xavier also pointed out that Tajuddin and his family is embroiled in an RM80 million financial scandal, while he holds 19.6% in Latitud 8, a project in Dang Wangi. – May 18, 2022.