KUALA LUMPUR: Lawyer and activist Latheefa Koya today urged the government to immediately announce a complete ban on support letters for party members by ministers, political secretaries or official aides.
The Lawyers for Liberty executive director, in a statement said such a practice borders on corruption and contrary to ethics and good governance.
She said the mindset that issuing support letters are not "a big deal" also goes against what Pakatan Harapan has been fighting for.
She said it could also deny ordinary Malaysians, especially those who are better qualified but without connection to political personalities, equal opportunities during tender bids.
“This practice borders on corruption, and contrary to ethics and good governance. Are the rest of the public to be discriminated against simply because they did not become members of the political party that is in power?
“It should be remembered that the letter was issued under the letterhead of the deputy prime minister herself, the second highest-elected public official in the country,” she said.
Latheefa was commenting on the recent controversy over a letter on a catering contract written by a political secretary to Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail.
The official had denied that the letter was a support letter, insisting that it was merely a "referral" and that he is not abusing his position.
Commenting further, Latheefa urged the government to take a stand on the matter as the practice was a relic of the previous government's style of doing things.
“We urge Putrajaya, under the leadership of Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and the cabinet to immediately announce a complete ban on support letters for party members by ministers, political secretaries or official aides,” she said.
At the same time, she urged Dr Wan Azizah to come clean and make a stand on the issue.
The viral letter, dated December 5, was addressed to the Education Minister’s Office for the attention of the education minister’s political secretary.
The letter had stated that the DPM’s office had received an application from a company bidding for a food catering contract for a hostel in Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Agama Tun Said in Kota Belud.
The letter pointed out that the company bidding for the contract was a fully bumiputera-owned company, of strong financial standing and with a good track record.
Dr Wan Azizah's political secretary had said that party members regularly asked for letters to accompany their bids as referrals and politicians could not turn them down.
He had said that those who posted the letter online should have complained to the MACC if they believed there was any element of wrongdoing.