KUALA LUMPUR, April 15 — DAP stalwart Lim Kit Siang has taken the Perikatan Nasional (PN) government to task for talking about giving government MPs posts in government-linked companies (GLCs) when the country is going through the Covid-19 crisis.

The Iskandar Puteri MP said that the government should be giving top priority and showing seriousness, competence and urgency in dealing with the economic fallout of the pandemic instead of making such political announcements.

"The announcement that all government MPs will be given posts in government-linked companies (GLCs) is not in the spirit of ‘act fast and do whatever it takes’ but a betrayal of the public’s trust to save Malaysians from the Covid-19 pandemic.

He said such announcements were a dishonourable example of "giving jobs to the boys” and showed that the government was only interested in giving their MPs posts and positions in GLCs.

"I fully endorse the criticism of the PKR president, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, yesterday deeming it criminal for Perikatan Nasional backbenchers, regardless of merit or qualification, to be assured positions in GLCs at a time when many are struggling financially due to the Covid-19 pandemic,” he said in a statement today.

Lim added that the purported move by the government was inappropriate given the current circumstances facing Malaysians, who are struggling under the movement control order (MCO) brought on by the pandemic as well as healthcare and frontline workers trying to curb its spread.

On Sunday, Minister in the Prime Minister's Office in charge of Law Datuk Takiyuddin Hassan made the announcement that all PN MPs without positions would be appointed as GLC heads, adding this was due to the fact all of them are qualified.

However, Takiyuddin also said the appointments will depend on legal procedure, since some GLC positions fall under the purview of the respective minister responsible while others require the assent of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong.

Yesterday, Anwar had lambasted the move as "unprecedented and indefensible” and "excesses and nonsense” which must be stopped.