Perhaps it is time MARii gets an independent audit.
The Malaysia Automotive Robotics and IoT Institute (MARii), which used to be called the Malaysia Automotive Institute (MAI) found itself in yet another scandal last week. They had hired Dr Faizal Anwar as their medical adviser for Covid-19 innovations. Here’s the first problem, Dr Faizal Anwar has been struck off medical registers in both Malaysia and Australia.
The second problem is that Dr Faizal Anwar was a cosmetic surgeon. If that’s what qualifies as an expert on virology or “data-driven health management systems”, then you can imagine the kind of experts MARii has on the panel for their other less serious endeavours.
The third problem is that Dr Faizal Anwar has been sued by at least 12 women in Australia for botching their cosmetic surgeries in 2017. In 2018, he was fined A$100,000 by the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court for continuing to practice medicine while suspended. This was the largest fine levied by the court for such an offence.
Those three problems are extremely worrying. Even back when MARii was known as MAI, we had issues with the way they were handing out their internally-developed ‘EEV’ status to just about every car company who worked ‘closely’ with them.
This is a government agency that hires its own “consultants” and sets its own standards without peer review and without transparency. The worst part is it doesn’t matter whether Barisan Nasional, Pakatan Harapan or Perikatan Nasional is in charge, the same people are still working at MAI/MARii taking salaries from the taxpayer.
If this isn’t worrying enough, it seems like they’ve now moved on from the ailing auto industry to the booming medical industry. Surely it is time to do an independent investigation into the agency by actual experts in the field.
Since the National Automotive Policy 2020 was announced, what measures has MARii taken to produce an actual guideline for pricing? And before they’ve had a chance to their main job, which is to sort out the Malaysian automotive industry, they’re moving on to medical equipment.
The rest of the world, including many neighbours in South East Asia, already have a game plan to transition towards EVs or at least ECO cars.
Meanwhile, Malaysians have to rely on private companies like Shell and Porsche to set up our fast charging network. And while the other countries are ready to accept huge investments in EV plants from foreign investors, private Malaysian enterprises have to tackle the risk by themselves.
