Tengku Zafrul says his focus is on MITI, not FAM

Tengku Zafrul said that, at the moment, his focus is to ensure all initiatives implemented by MITI (Ministry of Investment, Trade and Industry) are run smoothly.

"I was informed yesterday that speculation was rife and several names had been proposed and discussed (as FAM president) in the mass media.

"To me, as a minister, I have a lot of responsibilities that I need to fulfil and my focus is to ensure all implementations in MITI run smoothly... that's my focus," he told Bernama after attending the 2024 Bernama Open House at Wisma Bernama here today.

He also said that he had left the corporate world a long time ago and feels that other individuals, who are better qualified, should be nominated for the FAM top post.

"I was indeed in the corporate world for about 20 years, with my final posting being the CEO (chief executive officer) of CIMB... so, I do have corporate experience. It's just that now I have moved away from corporate life, now I'm in the government, so my focus is surely to give more time to my work in MITI," he said.

Yesterday, local media reported that three corporate figures, including Tengku Zafrul, were viewed as ideal candidates to lead and transform FAM and take it to a higher level.

The other two corporate figures named were Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) chairman Tan Sri Mohamad Salim Fateh Din and Malaysia Aviation Group Bhd (MAG) Group managing director Datuk Captain Izham Ismail.

"I believe there are many other good candidates, (for example) Capt Izham and Tan Sri Mohamad Salim as well as another name mentioned previously, KJ (Khairy Jamaluddin), who used to be involved in FAM," said Tengku Zafrul, who resigned from his post in CIMB in March 2020 following his appointment as the Finance Minister.

For the record, Tengku Zafrul was previously appointed as Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) president after Mohamad Norza Zakaria announced his intention to step down at the end of last year before making an abrupt U-turn to helm the association until today.

Mohamad Salim, when met here today, refused to comment on his name being linked to the FAM top post.

Previously, Khairy was touted as a candidate for the FAM president's post, which has been held by Datuk Hamidin Mohd Amin since 2018, following the emergence of a poison-pen letter discrediting the leadership and management of the national football governing body.

The FAM Congress is scheduled for next year.

-- BERNAMA