Dewan Rakyat Speaker rubbishes claims son appointed as special officer

PETALING JAYA: Newly-minted Dewan Rakyat Speaker Datuk Johari Abdul has rubbished claims that he had appointed his son as his special officer to assist in Parliament.

“There is no issue. My son is not appointed to any position at the moment,” Johari said when contacted by The Star on Thursday (Feb 2).

He was clarifying reports on several online portals claiming that Johari had appointed his son Muhammad Iqbal Johari as Special Tasks Officer 1 to the Yang di-Pertua Dewan Rakyat.

This follows claims of Muhammad Iqbal’s supposed appointment going viral.

The alleged appointment was said to have been made shortly after Johari was elected as Dewan Rakyat Speaker in December last year and comes in the wake of claims of nepotism under the current administration.

On Dec 19, Johari was elected Dewan Rakyat Speaker after 147 MPs voted in favour of him via a ballot when his name was proposed by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim for the post.

The PKR senior politician, who won the Sungai Petani parliamentary seat in 2008, announced before the 15th General Election (GE15) last November that he did not intend to defend his seat.

His seat was successfully defended by his son Dr Taufiq Johari, a qualified medical doctor.