Highlight: Cabinet line-up seen reducing Dr M influence

Written by fz.com(content contributor to theedgemalaysia.com)
Thursday, 16 May 2013 15:03
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THE cabinet line-up shows that Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak
has attempted to reduce the influence of former premier Tun Dr
Mahathir Mohamad and pave the way for upcoming Umno elections, the
Oriental Daily News said today.
"One of the signs (that he is attempting to reduce Mahathir's influence)
is by making Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin the Youth and Sports
minister," associate news editor Tham Seen Chin commented.
Khairy, the son-in-law of former PM Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi,
defeated Mahathir's son, Datuk Mukhriz Mahathir, and former Selangor
mentri besar Dr Mohd Khir Toyo for the Umno Youth top post in the
2009 party elections. However, he was not made a minister in Najib's
previous cabinet, while Mukhriz was made a deputy minister.
In Tham's opinion, one of the reasons why the Oxford graduate was not
given the opportunity to serve as a minister earlier was that he had been
stymied by Mahathir. After experiencing some down time, Khairy is now
standing tall again.
Besides that, Tham is of the view that Sabah and Sarawak are the
biggest winners in the new cabinet line-up with 12 ministers and eight
deputy ministers.
"Barisan Nasional has always been taking Sabah and Sarawak as its
fixed deposit but it had been neglecting the two states when it came to
distribution of political resources," he wrote.
The regime started to realise the importance of Sabah and Sarawak in the 2008 general election when the two states
contributed 54 seats to the ruling coalition in the midst of the political tsunami in the peninsula.
Tham pointed out that BN component parties in Sabah and Sarawak were not satisfied with previous arrangements where
there were only five cabinet ministers from the two states; it is reasonable to raise the number of cabinet minister from five to 12.
Meanwhile, both Sin Chew Daily and China Press said the cabinet line-up shows Najib formed the new cabinet based on merit.
Sin Chew associate news editor Hou Ya Lun commented: "Najib fully adopted the principle of meritocracy in the new cabinet
line-up where parties which did a deed of merit for Barisan Nasional in the general election are given more minister and
deputy minister posts while the allocation for the parties with poorer performance was greatly reduced," she said.
She further pointed out that the number of ministers and deputy ministers from Sabah and Sarawak has reached a record
high while the representation of MCA and Gerakan has plunged to zero as both parties experienced a major setback in GE.
MCA had also announced that its representatives would stay out of federal and state office.
While PM reserved the transport minister post for MCA, it is still considered a "miserable situation" for the Chinese party even
if it agrees to re-join the cabinet, she said.
MCA was previously allocated four minister and seven deputy minister posts, Hou added.
China Press reporter He Bi Jun echoed the view that the new cabinet line-up is based on merit as much weight is given to
Sabah and Sarawak.
Meanwhile, in her opinion, it is a list to please everyone as even Hindraf president P Waythamoorthy was given a deputy
minister's post.
The former Indian rights activist, who was a fugitive for several years before coming back to Malaysia last year, signed a
memorandum of understanding with Najib prior to the elections in exchange for getting Indians to support the BN.