KUALA LUMPUR, April 1 — Human Resources Minister Datuk Seri M. Saravanan has removed Datuk Noor Farida Mohd Ariffin from her position as the chairman of the Human Resource Development Fund (HRDF).

Speaking to Malay Mail, Noor Farida confirmed that five other out of the 18 board of directors members, including the chief executive officer (CEO) Elanjelian Venugopal, were also removed.

"Yes, we have all been removed from the HRDF board by the new minister of Human Resources,” Noor Farida said when contacted.

"Myself and the directors who had our contracts prematurely terminated, had been appointed by the previous minister, M. Kulasegaran, to help implement the recommendations of the Governance Oversight Committee, to get rid of the conflicts of interest situations and abuse of power which were allegedly prevalent under the old management.

"Yes, the CEO’s contract was also shortened,” she said, adding that Elanjelian’s contract was supposed to only end on July 10, 2020.

She said that her contract was only due to to end in January next year. However, she received an official notification from the Saravanan dated March 17, 2020, informing her that her appointment as HRDF chairman was cancelled, effective March 16, 2020.

The former diplomat who was appointed to HRDF on January 3, 2019, said that the ministry then subsequently decided that her contract, as well as those of the other directors, would be terminated today.

Malay Mail was made to understand that under Noor Farida’s watch, works to amend the Pembangunan Sumber Manusia Berhad 2001 (PSMB) Act was in the pipeline, to limit the minister’s powers, among other things.

Noor Farida was replaced with Datuk Nelson Renganathan, who is the chairman of Regent International School.

Malay Mail is contacting the Human Resources Ministry for comments.

Noor Farida was one of the founders of the Malay former top civil servants group G25.