‘Ammar was demoted, not fired’

KUALA LUMPUR: The sudden termination of the services of Datuk Dr Ammar Abd Ghapar as Tourism Malaysia director-general, which sent ripples through the industry, continues to draw attention with the minister in charge saying that he had been demoted.

“Since he couldn’t perform well, I decided that whoever is capable should take on the role. If someone is incapable, step down to give others an opportunity,” said Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister Datuk Seri Tiong King Sing.

“In fact, in a recent board meeting, I instructed him not to do something, but he did it anyway, so I asked for him to be demoted immediately.

“I don’t know if he was lacking of ideas or was unsure of how to implement them, but if one cannot deliver results, a change is necessary. I didn’t terminate his employment; I simply reassigned him,” a straight-talking Tiong told reporters yesterday.

Ammar, who was appointed to the post in April last year, was given a four-day notice about the “penamatan lantikan” (service termination).

The letter, signed by Tiong and dated Feb 22, stated that the termination was to take effect on Feb 26.

A second letter addressed to Ammar stated that he would be made deputy director-general (planning). His grade – Pegawai Ehwal Ekonomi Gred Utama B – remains the same.

Yesterday, Tiong said that Ammar was supposed to end his term by March next year.

“But for the sake of the nation’s tourism industry, I couldn’t wait until next year to take action,” he added.

He said Ammar was not the first choice to replace his predecessor, Datuk Zainuddin Abdul Wahab, who retired on April 10, 2023.

“When the former director-general retired, Ammar was not the ministry’s top suggestion,” Tiong said.

“Still, I gave him an opportunity based on his PhD in tourism. Regrettably, his performance did not align with the qualifications of a PhD,” he claimed.

Tiong said that both he and his deputy, Khairul Firdaus Akhbar Khan, provided extensive advice to Ammar and sought input from him.

He also spoke about complaints from stakeholders of alleged “lack of engagement” from Tourism Malaysia.

“Thailand can get 10 million tourists annually from China alone.

“We only receive two million Chinese tourists at most. Why are we stagnant?

“I set a target of five million Chinese tourists, but he deemed it impractical and proposed lowering the target to three million,” Tiong added.

“Yet, even this adjusted goal has not been achieved.”

Subsection 10(1) of the Malaysian Tourism Promotion Board Act grants the minister the power to appoint a person they deem fit to be the director-general.

The Act also stipulates that “the appointment of any member may at any time be revoked by the minister without assigning any reason.”