A Malay portal had posted news that Tengku Zafrul the Finance Minister had tendered his resignation after his stand on EPF withdrawals was somewhat challenged when the Prime Minister announced the RM10,000 special withdrawal.
The story was also carried by a major English daily, however, Tengku Zafrul has denied the rumour claiming instead that he had to attend an emergency matter. He posted on his Facebook page explaining that his absence from the parliamentary sitting was due to a personal emergency.
There were questions on the post of his absence at the Parliament sitting but the Minister was quick to state that he had no intention of not fulfilling his responsibilities to answer questions as Finance Minister.
The Malay media wrote the article based on the tabling of the Supplementary Supply Bill 2021 (2022) read by the Deputy Finance Minister I, Datuk Mohd Shahar Abdullah, which it assumed was because the Minister had resigned.
As to this assumption, Tengku Zafrul said, “Last year, it (the bill) was also tabled by the Deputy Finance Minister. The media could have just checked with my office or my officer,”
The Minister appealed for the media not to gossip and to be fair in their reports, adding that this was not the first time that a minister was asked to read the answer from another minister.
