{"id":1946,"date":"2012-03-13T11:22:44","date_gmt":"2012-03-13T03:22:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/?p=1946"},"modified":"2012-03-13T11:22:44","modified_gmt":"2012-03-13T03:22:44","slug":"is-our-foreign-minister-doing-his-job","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/is-our-foreign-minister-doing-his-job\/","title":{"rendered":"Is our foreign minister doing his job?"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/strong>\"\"<\/a>In the wake of Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil\u2019s \u201cresignation\u201d from cabinet, a DAP MP has questioned the competency of the Foreign Minister, Dato\u2019 Sri Anifah Haji Aman.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is embarrassing that only in Malaysia, we see a Tourism Minister, who is supposed to promote local tourism, spending more time overseas than the Foreign Minister,\u201d said DAP International Secretary Liew Chin Tong.<\/p>\n

Liew said Anifah spent most of his time in Kota Kinabalu or Kimanis \u201cplaying politics\u201d, rather than being in foreign countries promoting a more constructive relationship with Malaysia. Diplomatic visits undertaken by the Minister were mostly out of formality and short of a clear objective.<\/p>\n

This session\u2019s Parliament sat yesterday and Liew has submitted these questions for the foreign minister to clarify:<\/p>\n

a)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The frequency of his presence in day terms in Wisma Putra, Putrajaya and Kuala Lumpur<\/p>\n

b)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The frequency of his presence in day terms in Kota Kinabalu and Kimanis<\/p>\n

c)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The frequency of his presence in day terms overseas for official visits.<\/p>\n

Liew urged Prime Minister Dato\u2019 Seri Najib Razak to revamp his tired and underperforming cabinet, adding that Anifah should be replaced for his \u201clacklustre\u201d performance since his appointment in 2009.<\/p>\n

Former diplomat Dennis Ignatius in his column \u201cWisma Putra adrift in foreign affairs\u201d published in The Star<\/em> newspaper on the 9th<\/sup> of February 2012 commented that \u201cWisma Putra no longer has the capacity to provide sound strategic advice to the Government\u201d.<\/p>\n

The MP for Bukit Bendera also criticised Anifah for not having the proper leadership that the foreign ministry needs in order to bring Malaysia to the forefront of international affairs, pointing out that Wisma Putra \u201clacked concrete direction\u201d with regards to its foreign policy.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Liew said that Wisma Putra has mainly focused on administrative issues and consular services while failed in providing clear policies to fulfil our foreign agenda.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a result, the government has opted for \u201cglobal strategic communications\u201d managed by foreign firms and advisors as its main foreign agenda,\u201d Liew said, in reference to the FBC fiasco.<\/p>\n

The Malaysian government paid public relation company FactBased Communications (FBC) Media to make a series of eight documentaries for the BBC about Malaysia, in a breach of ethics which the BBC later apologised for.<\/p>\n

In a statement, Liew added that the foreign ministry portfolio is one of the most important positions in any government as the interest of a nation often lies in the handling of its neighbours and the world\u2019s affairs.<\/p>\n

Liew blames Wisma Putra\u2019s \u201creactive\u201d rather than \u201cproactive\u201d foreign policy for the decreasing relevant role of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) and Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) in world affairs. Malaysia is a part of both organisations. -The Rocket<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the wake of Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil\u2019s \u201cresignation\u201d from cabinet, a DAP MP has questioned the competency of the Foreign Minister, Dato\u2019 Sri Anifah Haji Aman. \u201cIt is embarrassing that only in Malaysia, we see a Tourism Minister, who is supposed to promote local tourism, spending more time overseas than the Foreign Minister,\u201d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1948,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[274],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1946","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-national"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1946","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1946"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1946\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1948"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1946"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1946"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1946"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}