PETALING JAYA, Selangor: Datuk Seri Shamsul Iskandar Akin has stepped down as Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s political secretary, days after a controversy erupted over a support letter he issued for hospital project contractors.
In a post on X, Shamsul said the controversy had become a tool to target him personally, risking damage to the government’s image.
“Hence, I have decided to protect myself from these attacks. And this morning, I sent in my resignation letter to Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim,” he wrote.
The Melaka PKR chief also thanked Anwar for entrusting him with the political secretary role.
Shamsul, who is a former PKR information chief, was appointed as Anwar’s political secretary in December 2022.
The resignation comes after Anwar defended his decision not to sack Shamsul, saying any action should be proportionate to the offence.
“Did it violate the law? Was the project approved based on his letter? No,” Anwar was reported as saying in response to Pandan Member of Parliament (MP), Datuk Seri Rafizi Ramli’s statement that he should not merely reprimand, but sack Shamsul to show his commitment in fighting corruption.
Last week, Anwar was reported to have told the Dewan Rakyat that he had reprimanded Shamsul, noting that government regulations did not permit the issuance of such support letters.
He had said he could only remark “please review” even for letters addressed to him, and contracts could be scrutinised but not given “automatic” support.
Anwar had said this during Minister’s Question Time in response to Perikatan Nasional’s Pasir Mas MP, Ahmad Fadhli Shaari, who raised the issue of Anwar’s political secretary listing six contractors in a support letter for an unspecified hospital project.
