Nazri is the man for the post, says Ahmad Zahid

KUALA LUMPUR: Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz is the most suitable person for the post of Malaysian ambassador to the United States, and he will be able to raise the country’s travel advisory ranking, says the Deputy Prime Minister.

Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, who is also Umno president, however, pointed out that it was not his party that had proposed Nazri for the post.

“The government under the ninth prime minister (Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob) proposed Nazri to be the US ambassador. It was not the party (Umno),” said Ahmad Zahid.

He said the government had appointed Nazri as he had the capabilities to strengthen ties between Malaysia and the US, as was proven by his predecessors with political backgrounds such as Tan Sri Dr Jamaluddin Jarjis and Datuk Seri Dr Awang Adek Hussin.

“He has the right personality for the job. I believe not only will he be able to establish B2B (business-to-business) and P2P (peer-to-peer) platforms but also strengthen the G2G (government-to-government) relations.

“Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim will be visiting the US soon and Nazri will be able to handle the visit well by setting up meetings between counterparts, business councils and corporate entities,” said Ahmad Zahid.

He was responding to criticisms over the appointment of the former Padang Rengas MP and former minister to the ambassadorial post, with critics saying the political appointment denied career diplomats the opportunity to be promoted despite years of service.

Ahmad Zahid said one of the tasks for the new ambassador to fulfil was to ensure the US keeps Malaysia at Level 1 in its travel advisory to its citizens.

“We also hope that Nazri will be able to get our travel advisory ranking to Level 1 (for the whole of Malaysia) after we were downgraded due to the recent (Malaysian) change in government,” he said.

At present, on its travel advisory, the US had ranked Malaysia as Level 1, except for Sabah where the US ranked it as Level 2.

Level 1 advises US citizens to exercise normal precautions, Level 2 means to exercise increased caution, Level 3 urges US citizens to reconsider travel whereas Level 4 advises citizens not to travel to the country.

On another matter, the Umno president said teams contesting in party polls did not matter, but it was vital for the best one to win.

He pointed out that the Umno president’s post had only been contested four times since its inception in 1946 – during the tenure of Tunku Abdul Rahman, Tun Hussein Onn, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and when he contested for the post in 2018.

“The contests for vice-presidents and all other party positions below are healthy contests. I believe it does not matter which cliques (on the same board) wins.

What is important is that the grassroots choose the best among the candidates,” said Ahmad Zahid at a press conference after attending a Rural and Regional Development Ministry’s strategic direction workshop yesterday.

He was asked to comment on the perceived different teams ganging up to contest in the party polls.

On Jan 14, the Umno General Assembly agreed to “no contests” for the top two posts of president and deputy president.

However, all other positions beginning with the three vice-president posts are open to contest.

Umno members will elect those for the three vice-presidents posts and supreme council members on March 18.