PUTRAJAYA – Tun Dr Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar’s successor as Dewan Negara president has been confirmed but has yet to be named.
Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil kept mum about the elected individual, leaving it to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim to make the official announcement in the future.
“(The appointment) will be handled before the upcoming Dewan Negara proceedings around mid-March,” he told a press conference at the ministry, after the weekly cabinet meeting today.
“We already have a name, and I believe it will be announced soon. I cannot say more than that, but I wish to inform that the process is underway and will be announced,” said Fahmi
On January 19, Wan Junaidi submitted his resignation as Dewan Negara president, according to his letter sighted by a news portal, and he was subsequently appointed as the 8th Yang di-Pertua Negeri of Sarawak on January 26, just a week later.
Fahmi also revealed that the Community Communications Department’s (J-Kom) next director-general has also been finalised and is undergoing appointment procedures.
The minister, however, said the department’s structural overhaul was the government’s bigger priority, including coordinating its functions.
Asked whether the reform would lead to retrenchments, Fahmi downplayed the possibility, as it also requires the Public Service Department’s involvement.
In November last year, J-Kom’s then-director-general Mohammad Agus Yusoff resigned from his post, which he helmed since that February, citing the fact that he received other job offers.
Agus faced criticism for leading J-Kom ineffectively, and opposition lawmakers have called for its disbandment to save RM13 million in budget allocations.
Following his resignation, he defended his performance as the department’s head, asserting he ensured the agency served only the government.
The department was previously known as the Special Affairs Department (Jasa) before it was rebranded as J-Kom in 2020.
When Barisan Nasional (BN) led the federal government, Jasa was believed to have functioned as its propaganda unit, helmed by figures who were from BN linchpin, Umno. – February 7, 2024