Sin Chew Daily

The support letter written by deputy defense minister Ikmal Hisham for his son to be appointed a director of Pharmaniaga has sparked tremendous public outcry in the country. Defense ministry senior minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob was also embroiled in the controversy for endorsing the recommendation letter.

Although Ikmal Hisham's son Hazlan was eventually not appointed to the Pharmaniaga board, this is not actually the most crucial question. The thing is, the existence of such support letters will invariably give rise to nepotism and abuse of power.

Ministers and deputy ministers are no ordinary individuals. They have a lot of powers in their hands and a support letter signed by them for a family member or relative is not completely without its effect.

As a matter of fact, such support letters have been in existence in this country for a very long time. It was the normal way of doing things during BN's time.

As Malaysians become increasingly aware of its consequences, more and more people have begun to question and challenge this unhealthy culture.

The so-called "support letter" culture has not only come under harsh criticisms from the public and opposition, even those in the government are not agreeable to such practice.

MCA vice president Tan Teik Cheng has said the support letter written by Ikmal Hisham for his son has contravened the principle of clean governance. Even Ikmal Hisham later regretted having written the support letter and wrote another letter to cancel the earlier support letter.

This shows that people on both sides of the political divide are against the "support letter" culture. It is hoped that this practice will be put to a complete halt with political leaders on both sides against it.

Nevertheless, we cannot afford to be overly optimistic. After taking over the federal administration in 2018, Pakatan Harapan decided to ban ministers and deputy ministers from issuing any support letter. That said, such a culture has been deep-rooted in the Malaysian society and there are many who still embrace it today.

In the recent PPBM election, one of the Youth chief candidates Wan Ahmad Fayhsal promised during the campaign that if he were elected PPBM Youth chairman, he would issue support letters in his capacity as deputy minister.

Wan Ahmad came under public censure after the incident was exposed, but he remained defiant and unrepentant. As if that is not enough, he even won the election in the end.

What kind of message does Wan Ahmad's victory convey? A much bigger question now is: is our country ready to reject the "support letter" culture now?

In short, it is very unhealthy for a minster or deputy minster to issue a support letter as this will encourage nepotism and abuse of power.

Even Umno Youth which used to embrace this practice now urges the ruling party to drop the culture.

PM Muhyiddin vowed that he would have a clean government, and it is now time for him to take the decisive action to ban cabinet ministers and deputy minsters from issuing support letters in a bid to stop nepotism in erecting a clean administrative system.