The New Malaysian Cabinet-New Warriors or Wooden Horses?

All the President's Men

So much has been said and commented on Najib's new Cabinet line-up. Some in jest.

I will also give my personal take on this matter.

No comments on PM as he doubles up for the Finance portfolio. I guess he needs to hold on to this critical position as money is power!

As for Deputy PM Muhyideen, I think he should have moved on to Defense as he had his chance at the Education portfolio which he has showed little headway except for studies and semantics.

For Ahmad Zahid Hamidi , I think he has inherited a very powerful ministry with its obligations and responsibilities to ensure that the country continue to open up and be on the route firmly to become  a more open democracy; with less rein over public debate and engagement as well as over the mainstream media. If he continues with the earlier stoic unwieldy stance of Hishamuddin, then he will not see any progress either. Apparently he has started on the wrong foot after his swearing in. Wonder whether his outburst was rightly reported.

Ismail Sabri has been promoted to the Agriculture and Agro-based Industry Ministry, replacing the inept Nor Omar. This should be a challenge to him after his quite high profile stint at the Domestic Trade portfolio. If he does well here, he should go further up the UMNO leadership ladder unlike his predecessor who was inadvertently caught in the hairy quagmire of bird nests and plastic fish buckets.

Shabery Cheek has been promoted to the Ministry of Communication and Multimedia after procuring a Olympic medal through badminton and a bronze in diving to boot! . Let us see how he can deal with the fast moving pace of ICT now that he has left the sporting arena. As for Nazri Aziz, he has taken over a portfolio finally though it may have just be a junior Ministry of Tourism and Culture. Wonder whether he can make headway at this post as he has shown himself as too uptight for a job of selling the country to tourists.

Shafie Apdal is cocooned once more in his old Ministry of Rural and Regional Affairs and so is Anifah Aman in Foreign Affairs. Maximus Ongkili moved on the Energy, Green Technology and Water while a new man, Ewon Ebin, takes over his Science Technology Portfolio. Will Ongkili solve the Langat 2 problem this time around when Peter Chin failed miserably due to political pressure?

Deputy MIC President, S.Subramaniam went on the carousel and got shunted off to deal with doctors, pharmacists, nurses and the medical profession at the Ministry of Health while his boss G.Palineval took on the Natural Resources and Environment post. With the poor oral skills in Bahasa Malaysia, I think he may have some teething problems dealing with the the NGOs in this area. It will be worse for him if he is not good on the international stage as this is a high profile post.

Ahmad Husni Hanadzlah stayed put as Finance Minister II and so did Mustapha Mohamad in International Trade. The same goes for Jamil Baharom in the PM's Department.

There are just too many Minister in Najib's Department  Unless we have viable and useful portfolios for them,they will just be cutters of ribbons and ceremonial decorations. Idris Jala seems to be omnipresent in spite of shifting premises for his PEMANDU programmes and predicting a bankrupt nation by 2019. The inclusion of two so-called experts in Paul Low and that wizard CEO from Maybank, Wahid  seems appealing but will they contribute meaningfully in fighting corruption and upping the economy?

Shahidan Kassim and Joseph Kurup also made their return to higher positions in the PM's Department along with newbies, Nancy Shukri  and Joseph Entulu  from Sarawak.

New blood in the form of Fadillah Yusoff of Sarawak took over the Works Ministry. In  youth and sport, we see Khairy Jamaluddin Abu Bakar helming the Youth and Sports Ministry.  His deputy, Razali Ibrahim is now placed away at the PM's Department. Similarly, Douglas Uggah Embas is now shifted over to the Plantation Industries and Commodities.

Meanwhile Richard Riot, representing the non-Chinese component of SUPP bagged the Manpower Ministry while new man, Hasan Malek was chosen as the new Minister of Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism. Another Sabahan, Abdul Rahman Dahlan clinched the former Ministry of Well-being,Housing and Local government which was under the MCA.

Yet another Sarawakian took over the Women, Family and Community portfolio while Tengku Adnan was resurrected to his former Federal Territories Ministry despite the Lingamgate fiasco.

PPP found political survival despite being wiped out totally in the 13th GE. A token member, Loga Bala Mohan was made a Deputy Minister to assist in the Ministry of Federal Territory. So, I guess there is also a role for PPP in the up-coming Taipusam festival at Batu Caves now.

Controversial Waytha Moorthy, the disputed Hindraf head was rewarded with a Deputy Ministership in the PM's Department. Wonder what he can do now that he is possibly on solo mode. Will he take away the thunder of Indian affairs from the MIC?

As much as the opposition dislike them, they are sighing relief that the likes of Jamaluddin Jarjis, Ali Rustam  and Isa Samad did not make it into the Cabinet and political office this time around.

It's still early days and the KPI's are just about to be drawn out.................