Anwar: I offered Nurul Izzah senior adviser post without allowance

IPOH: Nurul Izzah Anwar is not paid any allowance as a senior adviser to the Prime Minister on economics and finance, says Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.

The Prime Minister said he had offered his daughter the position.

"I am not paying her any allowance, be it from the Prime Minister’s Office, or from the Finance Ministry," he told a press conference after launching the Tambun parliamentary service centre in Meru Raya here on Sunday (Jan 29).

He said this when asked about a cynical tweet by Bersatu deputy president Datuk Seri Ahmad Faizal Azumu, or better known as Peja, congratulating Nurul Izzah on her appointment.

Anwar said it was Ahmad Faizal’s right to ask about the appointment, but at the same time, he also wanted to ask him about several issues concerning the "theft" of land, logging, shares and commissions.

"All the above is what is destroying the country.

"Because I have yet to hear any statements from them (the Opposition) supporting the efforts to clean the country from all this.

"All talk about corruption, but when we ask about such cases, they say why need to dig up old stories," he said.

On Nurul Izzah’s holding a degree in Electronics and Electrical Engineering, which had no connection with finance, Anwar said he too was a Finance Minister for eight years without holding a finance degree.

"Leaders from Perikatan Nasional also did not have a degree in finance when they were in the government.

"But when it comes to us (Pakatan Harapan), they bring up such issues.

"So when they raise such issues, it must be consistent; so it must be that a Health Minister is a doctor, a Water Minister holding an engineering degree, but that does not happen

"As for Nurul, her first degree is in engineering, but her second degree from the renowned John Hopkins University in the United States is in public policy," he said.