NAAC: Appointment of Najib Asaddok postponed
PUTRAJAYA: The appointment of renowned online marketing coach, Najib Asaddok as marketing advisor in the National Agriculture Advisory Council (NAAC) has been postponed.
Agriculture and Agro-Based Industry Minister Salahuddin Ayub said the decision was made after discussing with Najib on reports and comments in the social media regarding his appointment.
“Thus, in all sincerity, he has agreed to postpone his participation in the NAAC to facilitate and give me an opportunity as the minister concerned to carry out an investigation and scrutiny on the allegations hurled at him.
“This is the consensus that we have reached for the common good,”said Salahuddin in a statement here yesterday.
The minister said that Najib’s appointment as NAAC advisor previously was made based on his background as an online marketing coach.
Salahuddin said the NAAC was an advisory body in the development of agriculture in the country and aimed at generating ideas towards strengthening and raising agricultural productivity as well as the agro- based industry to improve agricultural contribution to the national and people’s income.
Members of the NAAC were appointed from various backgrounds in terms of skills and not confined to agriculture alone.
“Some of the NAAC members were appointed from outside the agricultural field so that new and fresh ideas could be absorbed to improve the functions and services of the ministry,”Salahuddin said.
Najib’s appointment Tuesday was disputed by several parties in the social media who generally questioned his background which was unrelated to agriculture.
Besides Najib, Salahuddin yesterday named Leong Hup International Sdn Bhd executive director Tan Sri Francis Lau Tuang Nguang as well as the Director of the Institute for the Study of Agricultural and Food Policies Prof Datin Paduka Dr Fatimah Mohd Arshad as members of the council chaired by former secretary- general of the Ministry of International Trade and Industry Tan Sri Abdul Rahman Mamat.