Housing and Local Government Minister Zuraida Kamaruddin today stated that she has no objection to her former aide drafting a "critique" of the Pakatan Harapan government.

Zuraida said Ahmad Soffian Mohd Sharif is free to do whatever he feels comfortable doing.

"It's okay lah (if he wants to write the critique), as he is free to do as he pleases, and to do what he feels he is comfortable with. So we let it be.

"We demonstrate that we must accept opinions, criticisms and others," she said in a press conference in Putrajaya.

Soffian, who recently resigned as Zuraida's press secretary, had stated his intention of penning a "professional critique" of the new administration as part of his civic duty.

He said he had lost faith in the present government, although he stressed that he still greatly respected Zuraida as a minister.

"What I want is for the critique to be useful and be something that the government and the people can see, and if it proves useful, they can use it,” he told Malaysiakini in a recent interview.

Soffian (photo) also reiterated he was not paid nor backed by any political party to write the said critique.

His resignation came in the wake of the controversy surrounding his wife Syazlin Mansor being axed as the government lawyer at the tail-end of the inquest into the death of firefighter Muhammad Adib Mohd Kassim.

Attorney-General Tommy Thomas cited conflict of interest for Syazlin's withdrawal, given that she was representing both the Housing and Local Government Ministry and the family of the deceased.

This was on top of the fact her husband was Zuraida's press secretary at the time.

Syazlin later announced she would resume acting on behalf of Adib's family.