KUCHING – Opposition politicians in the state have injected a string of metaphors, analogies, and allegories to describe Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob’s newly minted cabinet line-up today.
Bandar Kuching MP Dr Kelvin Yii described the cabinet line-up as lacking a “refreshing overhaul” with no bipartisan representation that can jointly help tackle urgent issues involving a bruised economy and spiking Covid-19 caseloads.
“It is an ineffective, recycled, ‘second-hand cabinet’ rather than a cabinet that can inspire the rakyat to applaud and give the most needed critical support to the new government.
“I think the rakyat has been let down in the appointments especially since the cabinet is still bloated, when we should have been focusing resources on fighting Covid-19 and serving the people – not on shoring up political power.
“The other desire of the people that was not fulfilled is that the cabinet appointments did not seem to be by merit.
“Non-performing ministers who should have been dropped entirely from the old line-up are still in.
“Fact is, the new prime minister could have shown that he meant business by dropping underperforming ministers, but he took the safer route,” the DAP lawmaker told The Vibes.
Yii said the prime minister who opted to play safe, during an unprecedented time like this does not inspire confidence that he will execute radical changes to deal with the Covid-19 pandemic, a disastrously failed initiative of the previous administration.
“While I congratulate Khairy Jamaluddin on his appointment, I do hope he will bring the National Immunisation Programme back with him to the Health Ministry to reduce bureaucracy and streamline implementation.
“Public health must be in every policy of a government, moving forward.”
DAP's Pending assemblyman Violet Yong said the new cabinet line-up is nothing more than “old wine in a new wineskin with a new lid”, minus the deputy prime minister’s post which GPS had begged for.
“GPS did not even get the post of rural development minister which they were desperately hankering for as well.
“This proves that the coalition’s kingmaker role has diminished drastically,” she said.
‘New teapot with stale tea’
“A new teapot with yesterday’s stale tea” is how Lina Soo describes the new cabinet.
The vocal Parti Apirasi Rakyat political hardliner said Ismail Sabri’s decision not to appoint a deputy prime minister is proof that many within the ruling coalition were scrambling for the position.
“Even GPS threw its hat into the ring with blatant lobbying for the post, knowing, even if it gets it, the Sarawak choice would be there merely to act as a “flower vase” in the cabinet.
“This line-up merely shows there is no real desire for political, economic or health reforms with the same people managing the Covid-19 crisis.
“The crisis has escalated to critical heights and the people can only expect the ‘same old, same new’, SOPs that will cause them to scrape the bottom of the barrel even deeper to get by on a day-to-day basis,” she said.
Quoting Albert Einstein, Soo said, to do the same thing over and over again and expect different results, is insanity.
“Insanity has permeated Malaysian politics and it will not go away any time soon. The long-suffering Malaysian public will only have to dig in their heels and can expect to see things get worse before it gets better.
“Real reforms will have to wait a while longer,” she added.
‘Old dolls in new dresses’
Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak president Bobby Williams says the new line-up is nothing more than “old dolls wearing new dresses”.
“We have suffered much with the previous government’s ineffective cabinet ministers.
“I hope the members of this new cabinet will ‘go to work’ and not just enjoy their “privileged” position by sitting on their laurels in their well-appointed office,” he said.
DAP Bukit Assek assemblyman Irene Chang described the new line-up as a “reshuffle” of the previous Perikatan Nasional cabinet under Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.
“I had hoped for a down-sized cabinet as a sign that strict austerity measures with cabinet spending will be practiced from now on, so that more financial resources may be diverted to help the people in their financial needs while the nation fights the pandemic.
“However, the unveiled cabinet remains bloated with some ministries still unnecessarily retaining two deputies.
“The rakyat cannot expect much reform from the same old people who had underperformed previously,” she said.
Selangau MP Baru Bian said the line-up had minimal change except for Khairy who deserved his posting as the new health minister.
“Do I expect things to change? Not really. With the same people basically doing the same things, I don’t expect any positive changes for the next few months.
“With the restrictive environment we are in they need to do things creatively,” he added. – The Vibes, August 27, 2021
