Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Someone tell me why Syed Hamid is STILL there...


PM unveils 'trimmed-down' cabinet
Mar 18, 08 10:46am

breaking news Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi today announced his 'trimmed-down' cabinet.

During a 20-minute press conference at his office in Putrajaya, Abdullah said he has decided not to appoint any parliamentary secretaries - bringing the number of appointments down from 90 to 68.

"This means that the ministers and the deputy ministers will have to be more active in parliament," he said.

He has also dropped many notable veterans and roped in new faces, who now make up half of the cabinet.

"I hope they can serve the people effectively," he told journalists.

Those axed are veteran leaders Rafidah Aziz, Jamaluddin Jarjis, Azmi Khalid, Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor and Radzi Sheikh Ahmad, who is known to be close to the prime minister.

PM still finance minister

The premier has dropped his portfolio of internal security and outgoing foreign minister Syed Hamid Albar will run a newly merged Home Affairs and Internal Security Ministry.

This reduced the number of ministries by one to 27. The number of ministers however remain unchanged - the cabinet is still 32-member strong.

Abdullah has also retained his finance portfolio and Nor Mohamed Yakcop will continue to serve as second finance minister.

His previous cabinet had a whopping 32 ministers, 39 deputy ministers and 20 parliamentary secretaries, with jobs handed out to many of the 14 race-based parties that make up the Barisan Nasional coalition.

Zaid Ibrahim a new face

Among the interesting new faces are Zaid Ibrahim (left), who has been appointed minister in the Prime Minister's Department in charge of legal affairs.

According to Abdullah, Zaid will be put in charge of legal affairs and oversee reforms in the judiciary.

Only 17 of the 32 ministers in the previous cabinet have been retained - with five keeping their old posts while 12 moved to new profolios.

Among them are Dr Rais Yatim, who has been named foreign minister and Ong Tee Keat (transport minister).

Shahrir returns to cabinet, Muhd Taib makes comeback

Making a return to the cabinet is Shahrir Samad (right) who is appointed domestic trade and consumer affairs minister.

Also back from the political wilderness is Muhammad Muhd Taib, who is now rural development minister. Muhd Taib quit as Selangor mentri besar in 1997 after he was charged for breaching Australian financial regulations in bringing in huge amount of undeclared cash. He was later acquitted.

Meanwhile, Sarawak Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud's son Sulaiman has been appointed deputy tourism minister.

Khairy not in the line-up

Umno Youth deputy chief Khairy Jamaluddin was not named in the cabinet line up announced by his father-in-law.

Prior to the elections, it was speculated that Khairy - the 32-year-old Oxford graduate - will be given an important post.

However, the March 8 polls reversed his fortunes. Many blamed the young politician for BN's disastrous performance.

Since then, pressure had mounted on the prime minister not to include his son-in-law in the line-up.

Ka Chuan takes over from brother

MCA secretary-general Ong Ka Chuan (left) has been made housing and local government minister replacing his brother and MCA president Ka Ting.

Party vice-president Ong Tee Keat is transport minister replacing deputy president Chan Kong Choy. Youth chief Liow Tiong Lai is health minister and Women's wing chief Dr Ng Yen Yen is women, family and development minister.

MCA was also trounced in the elections. The party only managed to retain 15 out of its 40 parliamentary seats.

MIC loses Works Ministry

MIC failed to retain its control over the works ministry and party's secretary-general Dr S Subramaniam has been appointed human resources minister.

The previous works minister was MIC president S Samy Vellu. The party suffered heavy losses in the March 8 polls, losing six out of nine parliamentary seats and 12 out of 19 state seats.

MIC information chief M Saravanan has been appointed deputy federal territories minister while central working committee (CWC) member S Devamany is deputy natural resources and mining minister.

Rafidah dropped: No explanation

Rafidah (file photo, far right), who has held the trade portfolio since 1987, was the highest-profile casualty of the reshuffle.

Abdullah would not comment on the departure of Rafidah - also chief of Umno's influential women's wing - who is to be replaced by outgoing agriculture minister Muhyiddin Yasin.

"I don't discuss why. I think she should make way for someone new," he said.

Abdullah: I'm not quitting

Abdullah reiterated his insistence on staying in power, saying he had been given "a very strong mandate".

"I am not going to shirk my responsibilities," he said, adding that in his new term he would focus on implementing the many projects launched during the outgoing administration.

He said he was well aware of criticism that he had plenty of good policies but that his administration was "very short on implementation".

No evidence Najib is corrupt

The premier defended his deputy and heir-apparent Najib Razak against allegations of wrongdoing in military contracts, and said they had the "best of relationships".

"There is no proof that Najib is involved in any corrupt activities," he said.

"People can make all kinds of allegations, but what is important is that there is no evidence of that."

Ends


At least Khairy isn't!

5 comments:

KahJoon said...

eh? how come some parts of the article cannot see 1? anyway small problem, context can tell me what is missing.

gonna comment on the questionable characters in cabinet now.

1.Home Affairs and Internal Security Minister Syed Hamid Albar (Umno)
gosh, this fella become Home Minister? i dont know if you all knew that his dad was one of the instigators of 13 May. syed hamid's performance in BBC Hardtalk was also a disgrace to our nation.

2.Rural and Regional Development Minister
Senator Muhammad Muhammad Taib (Umno)
this guy who is known to be corrupt and kurang ajar. i dont know why abdullah appoint him as senator and minister. he brings our money overseas during financial crisis. btw he was acquitted of all his charges. he's also a known racist.

3.Federal Territories Minister
Zulhasnan Rafique (Umno)
why is this fella even retained? federal territories minister? what territory he controls now? he's the sole survivor in KL FT parliament seat in the recent elections. this is a joke lah.

4.Minister in the Prime Minister's Department
Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz (Umno)
this gengster is retained! sad case. he has a friend in parliament now who has the same character, Muhammad Taib. haih~~

Deputies: Mohd Johari Baharum (Umno)
this RM5 million to get out of jail man is still there! damn..


not much comment on other ministers. i have a little hope on former Maybank CEO Amirsham Aziz. hopefully he doesn't let me down.

Harwina said...

Haha , KJ you are sulking to early on the whole issue... there is still time for it my friend.

Everything that you have listed seems very clear but sad, what can we do ?

KahJoon said...

actually there's alot we can do. this election proved it. if these ministers slack in their job, don't behave properly, fanning racial sentiments, etc..we should expose it in the alternative media and spread it around..when the time comes, we kick them out!

we have 82 MPs in parliament that can voice our concerns..just imagine 82 ppl rebuking them..wahaha.

i cant wait for the first sitting of parliament. i don't know which law is gonna be repealed. hopefully is the printing press and publications act !

Mc Chaoz said...

I'm getting bored. There are no political scandal. I can't take this anymore. Now need to start to look for scandals in the opposition.

Mc Chaoz said...

How can we show Najib is corrupted when the system itself is corrupted. The handling of altantulya case sets a great example to our countries justice system. Sooner or later the court is going to tell that the women who was blown up was not Altantulya or worst they will summon altantulya spirit attend the court. I tell you. Malaysian leaders think worst than babies.