by Theleaders-Online | March 10, 2020 5:19 am
Yesterday, Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin announced his list of Cabinet members.
In a surprise move, Muhyiddin did not appoint a deputy. Instead, he announced that four ‘senior ministers’ will be taking charge of the nation in his absence.
The four are:
Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali- International Trade and Industries Minister
Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob- Defence Minister
Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusof- Works Minister
Datuk Mohd Radzi Md Jidin- Education Minister
The most interesting ‘senior minister’ in the list of no doubt, Azmin. While Muhyiddin had promised that he would appoint a ‘clean’ Cabinet, Azmin’s appointment certainly casts doubt on the premier’s statement.
Azmin was implicated in a gay sex scandal last year. Plus, he is also currently in the process of being sued by a travel agency for not paying his travel bills.
And of course, he was also known as the ‘hatchet man’ of the infamous ‘Sheraton Move’ which triggered the downfall of Pakatan Harapan.
In fact, the rumour within Perikatan Nasional leaders is that even they were apprehensive of Azmin’s inclusion into the Cabinet. In fact, Umno supreme council Datuk Puad Zarkashi even openly called on Muhyiddin to exclude Azmin two days ago, which was ignored of course.
To digress, we have to admit that the previous Pakatan government was faltering on many fronts, including the economy, before they crumbled.
However, there are few things glaring between the previous government and the Perikatan government.
One is, the composition of female Cabinet ministers and deputy ministers.
Muhyiddin did women politicians a great disservice by merely appointing just five women Cabinet ministers and one deputy minister. The previous government, however, also had five women ministers but they had four deputy ministers.
And one of them was a deputy prime minister.
It looks like having more women representation in the government leadership is not a priority for Muhyiddin.
Another issue at hand is the racial imbalance within the new Cabinet list.
No doubt, the new Cabinet list would please Umno and PAS, which had been complaining that the previous administration was controlled by “Chinese from DAP” but what about the thought of having a racially-balanced leadership at the top?
And where are the representatives from our most marginalised community, the Orang Asli? Is this the best Muhyiddin can offer?
Malaysians must realise that the bumiputera community only comprise about 60% of the population. So, it is very important to include diversity in national leadership to promote what makes Malaysia unique.
But if you look at it in a different perspective, it would be hard for hardliners to blame minorities from now on if anything goes wrong in terms of national leadership.
Anyway Muhyiddin, congratulations on your new dream team. But do bear in mind that the Dewan Rakyat will convene in May and Pakatan would definitely would try to oust the new government via a non-confidence vote.
So have your team ready as its going to a bumpy ride until the next general election.
Hema Subramaniam is Editor in Chief at The Leaders
Source URL: https://theleaders-online.com/perikatan-nasional-needs-to-learn-how-to-balance-things/
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