SHAH ALAM, 16 May: The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s Cabinet for the second term saw the monopoly of old faces with lackluster service records.
Executive Director for the Central PAS Research Centre, Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad described the Umno-BN Cabinet of Ministers this time of having no personal charm.
The team is merely riding of the reputation of individuals and not politicians such as Paul Low from Transparency International, P Waythamorrthy from Hindraf and Abdul Wahid Omar from Maybank.
According to Dr Dzulkefly, the presence of non-BN individuals in the cabinet this time is as if trying to compensate for the weaknesses of Umno-BN ministers.
“All of this is to offset the real cabinet which clearly does not have any real attraction and it will clearly end up as what is called ‘business as usual lah’.
“As during the last term, the finance portfolio is held by Najib despite the country’s debt which recorded an increase during the last term,” said Dr Dzulkefly when contacted.
Najib’s Cabinet witnessed Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin to continue to hold the education and the portfolio for national security and defence have changed hands.
Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein who was thought that the crime surge is a perception and the Lahad Datu invasion is “not a terrorist act” is now responsible for defending the country.
Meanwhile Datuk Seri Abdul Zahid Hamidi, whose ministry under him was criticised by the Auditor General for wastage, is now leading the Ministry of Home Affairs.
Datuk Anifah Aman, Datuk Mustapa Mohamed and Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal continues to hold their old portfolios.
Meanwhile, the older ones such as Datuk Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor, Datuk Ahmad Shabery Cheek, Datuk Dr S Subramaniam, Datuk G Palanivel,, Datuk Seri Nazri Abdul Aziz, Datuk Jamil Khir Baharom, Datuk Seri Idris Jala, Datuk Seri Shahidan Kassim and Datuk Seri Idris Jusoh from the last term were recycled for the new cabinet line.
Dr Dzulkefly considers the “transformation” touted by Najib is unlikely to happen with this ministerial team.
“The recycled faces will not inject a big stimulus to the expectations of the people who want anything he offers as a transformation or reform.”