KOTA KINABALU: Veteran Sabah politician Tan Sri Bernard Dompok has been appointed as the new chairman of SME Corp Malaysia.
This marks the former Sabah chief minister’s first government position since being recalled from his last official post as the Malaysian ambassador to the Holy See (Vatican) when Pakatan Harapan took over the reins of the country in 2018.
The appointment was announced by the Entrepreneurship and Cooperative Development Minister Datuk Ewon Benedick during the letter of appointment presentation ceremony to Dompok in Putrajaya yesterday.
SME Corp Malaysia is the central coordinating agency under Benedick’s ministry which was tasked with supervising the implementation of development programmes for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) across all related ministries and agencies.
With Dompok’s appointment, Benedick hoped that a new chairman and board members representing the Malay, Indian, Chinese, Kadazandusun and Dayak chambers of commerce will assist the government, particularly his ministry, to better serve SME entrepreneurs nationwide.
“Our ministry, especially in the SME Corp Malaysia, faces a big challenge in meeting the various needs of SME entrepreneurs across the country,” he said, in a statement.
“But, I believe that with a combination of new and existing leaders, SME Corp Malaysia can provide better services to the people, especially SME entrepreneurs,” said Benedick, who is also the president of Upko, a Pakatan component.
Other members of the SME Corp Malaysia are Noor Afifah Abdul Razak, Datuk Dr Zunika Mohamed, Datuk Koong Lin Loong, Bell Aggan @ Bell Bernard Aggan, Datuk Ladislaus Maluda, Ter Leong Leng, Prof Datuk Dr Abdul Razak Omar and Cham Owi Tong.
Also present at the ceremony were SME Corp Malaysia chief executive officer Rizal Nainy and the ministry’s secretary-general Datuk Seri Suriani Ahmad.
Suriani said SME Corp Malaysia was one of the vital agencies in the development of entrepreneurship under the ministry.
