KUALA LUMPUR (June 13): Datuk Seri Rafizi Ramli says he has packed up all his possessions during his final trip to the office on Friday, even as Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim urged the outgoing economy minister to reconsider his resignation.
In a Facebook post, Rafizi also thanked five of his closest aides whom he had personally persuaded to leave their previous careers to serve with him, and will now return to their respective fields, following his departure from the Cabinet.
From chili peppers to semiconductors to the startup ecosystem, as well as the Johor-Singapore Special Economic Zone, National Energy Transition Roadmap, progressive wages, and the 13th Malaysia Plan, the policy officers helped “translate my ideas into actionable policies,” he said.
The post came a day after Anwar said he had not accepted the resignation letters from Rafizi and Natural Resources and Environmental Sustainability Minister Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad, and was still hopeful that they would reconsider, Sinar Harian reported.
Rafizi and Nik Nazmi both resigned from their federal minister posts, following defeats in the recent Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) leadership elections.
At the internal party polls last month, Rafizi, who is also Pandan member of Parliament (MP), failed to retain his PKR deputy president’s post after being pitted against Anwar’s daughter Nurul Izzah Anwar.
Nik Nazmi, who is Setiawangsa MP, also failed to retain his PKR vice-president’s post, with the position going to Deputy Minister of Entrepreneur Development and Cooperatives Datuk Seri Ramanan Ramakrishnan.