KUALA LUMPUR – The new cabinet line-up under Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob is designed to ensure continuity and political stability, allowing the nation to focus its efforts on overcoming the Covid-19 and economic crises, said political observers.
Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) Prof Kartini Aboo Talib told The Vibes that the “reshuffling” of the cabinet, coupled with the fact that there is no deputy prime minister but instead four senior ministers, is a practical move.
“I think it is pragmatic rather than outlining new faces because, for the next two years or less, restructuring the cabinet, especially the ministries, may not be wise.
“New ministers will have to learn fast and may be stuck in the rules and regulations of bureaucracies. So, it is more practical to retain most of them, and perhaps, the small reshuffling will keep the wheel spinning.”
The return made by a few Umno veterans, such as Datuk Seri Shahidan Kassim, who was appointed Federal Territories minister, Tan Sri Noh Omar (entrepreneur and cooperative development minister) and Datuk Seri Mahdzir Khalid (rural development minister), will bring experienced leaders to Putrajaya.
She added that their participation in the executive body will be able to boost the delivery mechanism and assist the National Recovery Plan (NRP).
“Many people tend to overlook the bureaucratic processes in our public services embedded in the ministries (colonial knowledge and heritage), and we need those who are highly experienced to manage such demand,” said Kartini.
At the same time, the senior academic voiced her hope that Ismail Sabri will deliver on his promise to include Pakatan Harapan (PH) and opposition lawmakers in various government task forces.
Specifically, she proposed the prime minister form a special task force committee to “wheel the national recovery programme” alongside the federal opposition.
“They can create members for this committee of 50% partisan, 30% bipartisan, and 20% non-partisan to help the agenda for the people be realised effectively at each MP’s constituency at the federal and state levels.”
Similarly, Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM) Assoc Prof Mohd Azizudin Mohd Sani shared her sentiments regarding the Bera MP’s line-up on a cabinet of continuity that reduces inter- and intra-party politicking.
He took note that Ismail Sabri did not appoint a deputy prime minister, which may help in staving off polemics among the various parties within the ruling coalition, in line with the decree to minimise political disputes made by Yang di-Pertuan Agong Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah.
“It’s a combination, bringing back all seniors who really supported him during the switch of government last time. Overall, nothing much is different and the only thing now is their job is more difficult and they must perform in helping the people deal with the Covid-19 pandemic and economic issues.
“Ismail Sabri is also asking for them (ministers) to reset their ministry and have short- and long-term plans and table their performance within 100 days. It’s quite a big task for the ministers to really perform, so that’s what the people want and the PM wants to see them perform.
“So, this shows what they are planning. So far, they will continue with what they planned before... but I think they will do few more new things to deal with these issues, these crises,” Azizudin told The Vibes.
However, Singapore’s Institute of International Affairs senior fellow Oh Ei Sun has a different take on the cabinet compared with his two peers.
In Oh’s eyes, there is nothing different or new between the current line-up and the old guard, and questioned their capabilities, seeing how they had failed under Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin’s regime.
“You are expecting this largely old and the same cabinet to somehow come up with new policies to be implemented to tackle the pandemic and to revive the economy; I think you’ll be very hard pressed to do that.
“I don’t know. He mentioned performance and so on. I highly doubt this same group of ministers, having failed in the previous administration, can now magically come up with new strategies to be more effective.”
He said a war cabinet, which was proposed by former Dewan Rakyat deputy speaker Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said, would have been a better option for the newly minted prime minister.
The political pundit described Ismail Sabri’s selection as a gravy train, wherein the Umno vice-president appears to be bowing down to political pressure from factions within Barisan Nasional and Perikatan Nasional.
“It’s almost the same size as the previous gravy train, namely, you have all these different ministers from various component parties.
“It is bowing to political pressure from various factions, political expediency instead of having qualified and technocratic experts in a much smaller size cabinet to tackle the pandemic.
“Not having a deputy prime minister is, for the moment, to stave off a possible challenger to him, because if he has a deputy, that person will be poised to challenge him, just like what he did to Muhyiddin.” – The Vibes, August 27, 2021
