Embattled Deputy Chief Minister of Penang Mohammad Fairus Khairuddin is in the spotlight again. This time over the resignation of six members of his administration for allegedly being unable to work with him.

Malaysiakini has learnt that six of his officers - among them his private secretary, political secretary, press secretary and special officer - all tendered in their resignations recently, citing the same reason: Fairus' ‘attitude problem'.

mohammad fairus penang deputy cm deny resign 160708 01 However, when contacted, Fairus, who is also PKR assemblyperson for Penanti, denied allegations of incompetence, calling them lies, adding that he has no problems with members of his administration.

"The rumours are getting worse and they are all aimed at bringing me down. Why would you reporters want to investigate something that is not true?

"I am very disappointed with the media that have never reported my good deeds but instead sensationalise the rumours," said an angry Fairus.

He further refuted claims published in a blog, allegedly set up with the sole aim of criticising him in his capacity as deputy chief minister. Reports in the blog claim that his officers have had enough of him.

"What is said in the website is all fitnah (lies). There are certain people who have bad intentions against me and want to tarnish my reputation.

"Especially when I became the youngest deputy chief minister. I knew this would attract jealousy from these people," said Fairus.

Fairus, 32, is one of the two deputy chief ministers of Penang. The other deputy chief minister is P Ramasamy from DAP.

Since taking office in March, Fairus has been criticised by many quarters and complaints against him range from being late for functions and meetings to evading field work.

He was also accused of not having a good relationship with his constituents and state Pakatan Rakyat leaders.

PKR chief Anwar Ibrahim had even openly advised Fairus to improve his work.

‘He tarnished my image'

One of the officers, who tendered in his resignation last Monday, today said one of the reasons he resigned from his post was because he could not work with Fairus.

"That is more or less the reason but it is just one of the small reasons I resigned. Besides, my old boss, PKR secretary-general Salahuddin Hashim offered me a job to work with him," said Rezal Huzairi who had been working with Fairus since March.

Although Rezal claimed that that the deputy chief minister was not thorough in his work, he did not dismiss the possibility that he and Fairus had a different work ethic.

mohammad fairus penang deputy cm deny resign 160708 02 "But that is normal in a workplace environment. There are certain things that our employers will not agree with. It could be my fault, I would not know," he said.

Meanwhile, according to another former member of Fairus' administration, he realised he could not work with the deputy chief minister after only three months.

"As a person who worked closely with him, I did everything I could in my capacity, from arranging appointments to meeting constituents," the officer, who requested anonymity, told Malaysiakini today.

"But when I arranged appointments after I got his consent, he would make a last minute decision not to show up. At the end of the day, we are blamed as we are the ones who communicated with the respective people.

"How long can we stand this? My image has been tarnished because of him and I was even accused of being a traitor," he said.

Another former officer who also confirmed his resignation to Malaysiakini, claimed that Fairus failed to arrange a single meeting with his secretaries and aides since he took office.

"There was not a single meeting with the officers, aides, or his staff. This is not a question of us being jealous because there is nothing to be jealous about in the first place.

"We would support him if he does his job. We are not merely ‘yes-men' for him," said the officer who claimed he would reveal his name "when the time is right".

Step down now or else...

Besides being disgruntled former members of Fairus' administration, the officers today also agreed that the deputy chief minister should step down immediately before he makes "more mistakes".

"Also, please stop accusing and pointing fingers at other people. If your officers resign one after another, the problem does not lie with them, but with you," said one, adding that if Fairus had proof of the lies or fitnah against him, he should lodge a police report.

Another former officer said Fairus should step down to avoid embarrassing the Pakatan-led states and PKR.

lim guan eng "He has to resign now if he still has some dignity left in him. We would not want him to betray his own Penanti constituents as this would just embarrass (Penang Chief Minister Lim) Guan Eng.

"It also brings down the image of Islam and the image of Anwar who made him what he is now," said the former officer.