PRIME minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim today announced the appointment of five ministers and five deputy ministers, including four new faces, and the return of five former ministers to the federal cabinet.
Anwar also announced the restructuring of the ministries based on current needs, involving the Natural Resources, Environment and Climate Change Ministry, which is now split into the Energy Transition and Public Utilities Ministry, and the Natural Resources and Sustainability Ministry.
The Communications and Digital Ministry is also split into the Communications Ministry and the Digital Ministry.
The announcement also saw the number of ministers in the cabinet expanded from 28 to 31, while the number of deputy ministers was increased from 27 to 29, bringing the total number of administrative members in the unity government to 60.
The new ministers appointed today were Titiwangsa MP and Umno vice-president Datuk Seri Johari Abdul Ghani as plantation and commodities minister, Damansara MP and DAP deputy chairman Gobind Singh Deo (digital), Kuala Selangor MP Datuk Seri Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad (health), and Employees Provident Fund chief executive officer Senator Datuk Seri Amir Hamzah Azizan (finance II).
Former deputy finance minister II Steven Sim was also appointed full minister in charge of human resources.
The new deputy ministers are Datuk Seri Dr Noraini Ahmad (women, family and community development), M. Kulasegaran (law and institutional reform), Datuk Ramanan Ramakrishnan (entrepreneur development and cooperatives), Wong Kah Woh (education) and Senator Dr Zulkifli Hasan (religious affairs).
The cabinet reshuffle also saw former human resources minister V. Sivakumar as well as two deputy ministers, Ramkarpal Singh (law and institutional reform) and Datuk Siti Aminah Aching (plantation and commodities), dropped from the line-up. – Bernama, December 12, 2023.
