Kuala Lumpur: Economy minister Rafizi Ramli today rejected a suggestion by Muhyiddin Yassin (PN-Pagoh) that the positions of finance minister and prime minister should not be held by the same person.
“I don’t agree. The best person to be the finance minister is the prime minister,” Rafizi told the Perikatan Nasional chairman during a debate in the Dewan Rakyat.
Rafizi said this was because the prime minister had a key role to play in ensuring that procurement practices are above board, “to avoid what happened before”.
He was responding to an additional question from Muhyiddin, who asked if Rafizi agreed that it was time for Anwar to appoint a full-time finance minister.
Anwar has been criticised by various parties for holding the finance minister’s portfolio as the Pakatan Harapan chairman previously pledged that the prime minister would not hold another ministerial portfolio at the same time.
Anwar was finance minister in the 1990s, during his time as deputy prime minister to Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
Rafizi said unlike the past, prime ministers holding the finance ministry portfolio would not be overly burdened as the country’s economic planning was determined by the economy ministry, with policies implemented with the assistance of the various ministries mandated with economic responsibilities.
He also dismissed Muhyiddin’s claim that the economy was not recovering under Anwar’s administration, noting three consecutive quarters of economic growth in 2023.
In 2015, Rafizi, who was then in the opposition, filed a private member’s bill in Parliament seeking the enactment of a law that prohibits the prime minister from taking on the finance minister’s portfolio.
Both these posts were held by Najib Razak at the time.
However, last December, Rafizi said “extraordinary circumstances” after the last general election had led Anwar to take over the finance minister’s post.
He said while every component party in the unity government wanted the finance minister’s post, “it makes sense for now” for the prime minister to take on the role to avoid conflict.
However, he said he hoped this would be an exception as ideally, the prime minister should not also hold the finance portfolio.
