THE Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs (Ideas) expresses concern with the latest announcement made by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim on the cabinet line-up.
With a lot of anticipation both on the domestic level as well as international audiences, the decision to accommodate Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi for the post of deputy prime minister (DPM) despite the charges he faces in court is perplexing.
Ideas also calls for the separation of the roles of prime minister and finance minister as there is no oversight to arguably the most significant portfolio in the cabinet.
Despite achieving stability, the appointment of Zahid as DPM holding a strategic portfolio sends the wrong signal from the government that vowed to adhere to the principles of good governance.
While innocent until proven guilty and exhausting all appeals is sufficient for maintaining a seat in Parliament, appointed cabinet members should be held to a higher standard. This is crucial to ensure public confidence and trust in the government of the day.
Secondly, the appointment of the prime minister as the finance minister is not consistent with principles of good governance which Prime Minister Anwar has declared as a core agenda for the unity government. The commitment to separate the portfolios was also made clear in the previous Pakatan Harapan (PH) election manifesto.
The 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) corruption scandal was partly facilitated by allowing one person to hold these two important cabinet positions. The past three administrations have tried to reverse this tradition by allowing separation of power between the posts of prime minister and the finance minister.
While it is understandably politically difficult to name a finance minister in a unity government, it is necessary for the roles to be separated for check and balance. We propose for the prime minister to commit to finding a suitable finance minister – one who can deliver on a transparent and accountable government.
The finance minister also needs to oversee fiscal reforms such as putting in place the Fiscal Responsibility Act which has been stalled for some time.
The prime minister has, to an extent, fulfilled his promise made during a press conference held on November 24 to establish a leaner cabinet.
We also see better representation of women, youth and regions in the current line-up. This is reflected in the five ministerial posts with five female politicians, four youth politicians, and six Borneo representatives including the DPM post.
However, we strongly hope that the prime minister will not follow the previous administration’s move to appoint deputy ministers and special envoys with ministerial ranks to appease various political factions and make the cabinet size unnecessarily large.
Nevertheless, we would like to congratulate all ministers who have been given the responsibility and opportunity to serve the country and the public.
It is time to implement election manifestos that their coalitions promised the electorates. While each coalition emphasised different aspects of policies in their respective manifestos, most shared the same aim – to ease the people’s burden and to expedite institutional reforms.
Ideas certainly hopes key institutional reforms that both Barisan Nasional and PH mentioned during their campaigning period such as the promise to legislate a Political Financing Law and the separation of powers between the roles of public prosecutor and attorney-general will be implemented swiftly.
On this note, we look forward to engaging closely with the newly appointed law minister whom we hope will aggressively pursue these reforms in the immediate future.
Separately, we also look forward to continuing relationships with the Finance, International Trade and Industry, Health, and Education Ministries on issues championed by Ideas on public procurement, budgetary, economic, trade, health, and education reforms.
We also call on Perikatan Nasional (PN) to play its role as an effective and fair opposition to the current government. They should execute their plan to form a shadow cabinet soon to be involved constructively in policy making.
By forming a shadow cabinet and providing constructive criticism of the government’s policies, PN will do great service to the nation by not only providing mechanisms of checks and balances to the government but also by moving the current public narrative away from divisive political propaganda.
Ideas urges all parties lobbying for political appointments into ministries, government-linked companies and federal statutory bodies to proceed in the spirit of sacrifice and generosity to ensure a stable unity government.
The success of this government is reliant upon the collective responsibility of each MP from the main parties forming the government. The country needs both political stability as well as commitment to principles.
As such, any future appointments under this administration should be able to address both needs equally by taking into consideration all possible alternatives. – The Vibes, December 3, 2022
Tricia Yeoh is chief executive officer of Ideas
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