(Sept 10): The numerous transfers involving senior government officers is "unusual", said the emminent Malay group G25 spokesperson Datuk Noor Farida Ariffin, following Putrajaya's controversial decisions to move top civil servants.

According to the former ambassador, she had to request permission from two parties before being allowed to serve as the judiciary department's diplomatic and administrative officer.

She said transfers needed to get approvals from the Judicial and Legal Service Commission (SPKP) and Public Services Commission (SPA) and is not only confined to her superiors.

"This is the procedure set and it cannot be done solely by the department heads. So these procedures have to be adhered to.

"It is quite unusual especially if they do not follow the correct procedures. It cannot be done by any department heads," she told reporters.

She said this after being asked to comment on the series of transfers involving top government officers after the Cabinet reshuffle in late July.

On August 19, former Special Branch deputy director Datuk Abdul Hamid Bador received his transfer letter to a new security unit in the prime minister's department, making him the the latest civil servant to have been abruptly transferred from his post.

On August 7, two officers from the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), special operations director Datuk Bahri Mohamad Zin and strategic communications director Datuk Rohaizad Yaakob were also suddenly transferred to the Prime Minister's Department.

Following an outcry, the directive for the duo was cancelled three days later after a meeting with chief secretary to the government Tan Sri Ali Hamsa.

The two were then reinstated to their positions in the anti-graft agency.

Prior to that, Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail was abruptly replaced as Attorney-General at the end of July, and was replaced by Tan Sri Mohamed Apandi Ali.

Gani's sudden axing coincided with the sacking of former deputy prime minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin in a Cabinet reshuffle, after he was deemed to be vocal against debt-laden 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB). – The Malaysian Insider