Dr Mahathir confirms Cabinet reshuffle
PETALING JAYA: Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad plans to hold a Cabinet reshuffle before organizing the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit (APEC) next year.
The Prime Minister’s announcement was seen as a reminder to existing Cabinet members to improve their performance and to restore the government’s image.
Dr Mahathir said the Cabinet reshuffle was to be followed following the recent defeat of Pakatan Harapan (PH) in the Tanjung Piai by-election.
“We acknowledge some of the reasons why we suffered such a huge defeat, such as maybe our party is not mature enough and we are not fully organizing our party.
“We also find that there are issues with the economy as the government cannot provide assistance like the previous government. “There is also a need for us to reshuffle the Cabinet, so I am the Prime Minister responsible for this,” he said.
He said this at a press conference after chairing a meeting of the Supreme Council of Indigenous Peoples of Malaysia (BERSATU) here today.
Meantime, Dr. Mahathir said the reshuffle could not be done in a hurry because it needed to examine and review the achievements of existing Cabinet members.
He explained that the reshuffle was not easy to do and would take time because it had to be considered among the PH component parties, before the abolition of any Cabinet member.
Dr. Mahathir, however, declined to discuss the Cabinet reshuffle at a meeting of the PH Presidential Council scheduled for this Saturday. “If we shuffle now we may find that new people will take some time (to work), so the effect will not be seen in the long term and there may be more demand for reshuffling.
“If we want to change, we have to study carefully because we are trying to disrupt and we need to know who will replace the abused.
“I think more work needs to be done next year to host APEC 2020. We cannot minimize this as it is an important international meeting. That is why we must prepare well before making drastic changes in government, ”he said.
He said the problem with the current government was the issue of communication in communicating what had been done.
“What happened to me was not important but what was most important was what happened to the people and the country. So maybe this reshuffle will be made before APEC next year, ”he said.
