KUCHING: A political analyst thinks that there are no major changes in the new federal Cabinet line-up because Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob wants the agenda set by the previous government to continue.
Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas) professor, Datuk Mohd Fadzil Abdul Rahman explained that the prime minister wanted the present respective ministers to execute what had been planned before this.
“If the Cabinet were to be totally revamped, very likely everything will have to start all over again.
“It is easier for him to retain those ministers rather than to set up a new line-up,” he said when commenting on the new Federal Cabinet line-up today (Aug 28).
He noted that there had been many criticisms from people that the new Cabinet was just a Perikatan Nasional (PN) 2.0 government.
“But let us look at the different sides of the coin now. We can see that the reason for him to maintain or retain the line-up with only very minor changes is merely to actually enable the respective ministers to carry out all the plans and whatnot,” he said.
Mohd Fadzil also said that people could continue to criticise the new Cabinet but it would not do any good.
“I think it is time for us to give them a chance to continue with their tasks respectively as this will avoid unnecessary problems including instability to the country and to the people,” he said.
He added a totally new Cabinet might be seen after the general election.
On the reappointment of 10 Sarawak MPs in the federal Cabinet, he said it was good that the federal government decided to retain all of them.
“The only thing is that we wish to have a deputy prime minister from Sarawak. But at the same time, we have to understand the current sentiment and dilemma faced by the prime minister in his efforts to avoid potential risks to his newly formed government, especially when there are too many interested individuals eyeing that post.
“I think it was a wise decision by the prime minister not to appoint anything yet at this stage, because that will help to avoid unnecessary problems as the government is still new,” said Mohd Fadzil.
