Thursday, April 09, 2009

Najib's "New" Cabinet

Have you seen it? Is it really new? Well, here's my initial comment quoted in The Malaysian Insider:
DAP's national publicity secretary Tony Pua was more scathing in his assessment. "It's still the same old horses and same ministries. If you want to bring in political rejects, it makes the cabinet a bit of an artefact. After all the hype, it is a little disappointing," the Petaling Jaya Utara MP said.
The back door entry via the Dewan Negara is usually reserved for professionals with specific expertise, who are not your typical politicians (or who did not contest in the elections) to be appointed into the Cabinet to strengthen certain areas of weaknesses. But when you have some half-dozen Ministers who were rejected in elections, then certainly, it makes a mockery of the democratic process. Is the Barisan Nasional leadership cupboard so bare that they have to bring back to life the vanquished?

Is this a demonstration of PM Najib's "People First, Performance Now"?

What was probably most disappointing was the fact that the expectations of a "new-style" cabinet was so high, that Malaysians were all expecting a much leaner cabinet comprising of not more than 25 Ministers. But lo-and-behold, it's 28, and it's still backed up by 40 Deputy Ministers, making the entire frontbench even larger than Pak Lah's 67 members!

And as for the newly elected UMNO Youth Chief, I cannot but feel a little bit for him, after being contemptuously left out of the cabinet list. It cannot be described as anything else but a tight slap on the face when his deputy got included, and worse, his political rival who came in last during the Youth elections found a place in the Cabinet. Hey, even the MCA Youth Chief, Wee Ka Siong had his name listed as a deputy minister and Khairy just isn't good enough?

The new Prime Minister should learn that if he has nothing to deliver, please do not set up expectations sky high. This is the second time he has done so, the first with the "RM60 billion" stimulus package which is really only RM10 billion.

It does appear that the "change" that has been promised will certainly be hard to come by.

28 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ai ya, expected la - many old farts, mostly familiar names, few new faces! Yes, baby Kutty in, SIL out. It’ll be fun to see the reaction from the UMNO Youth/rempits!… hehehe… But I feel so sad for the health ministry, if he really cannot find a good deputy, just don fil it up.

I would like to see a shadow cabinet formed by Pakatan. Don’t divide and rule, form a cabinet based on the right people with qualified education & intelligence. Jangan cakap tak serupa bikin. Then see where’s our talent/speciality gap. Time to strengthen the quality of our reps. We have too many activists, not many professionals in Pakatan. Time to recruit quality people and get ready to stand for GE13. Like I emphasize, don’t hog these positions. They don’t ‘belong’ to any parties, give it to the most capable man or woman. Then we’ll see PAS, DAP and PKR go all out to recruit the best talents. That’s a real Pakatan Rakyat.

KIMHO8 said...

What kind of new cabinet?
It is more like a water closet!

Anonymous said...

Irrelevant Irrelevant Irrelevant.

get rid of the irrelevance then this country may have a chance.

the judiciary is infested with irrelevant judges. its time to make sure they are relevant! thats the role of MPs, not about clogged drains.

my insider tip. look at the judge lifestyle in particular the irrelevant ones.

Anonymous said...

well, isn't it obvious it is a rebirth of tun dm choice of wardrobe? he is also getting more media attention now as if he is the pm again. suggesting this, suggesting that. now he is suggesting his son to clean up miti, more like shred all the files that link all the APs to the family. or investigate how many APs ye old iron lady did not share / disclose to tun dm for his piece of the cake coz he only tasted the icing.

Khun Pana aka johanssm said...

I prefer PR to come out with a list of our own "ministers"and "senators" in the event most likely when the PR takes over as feds.
How many ministers will we be having and what portfolios.
We will be having 2 deputy prime ministers?
We better looks real and take care of ourselves first instead of insulting bn.
In other words we better be ready.

Anonymous said...

it will be most interesting to watch the international trade and industry ministry.

who will be the real boss there? mustapha mohamed or mukhriz mahathir?

i'm just as sure that mustapa is not sitting very comfy and won't be...

-- Freddy Toh

Anonymous said...

The new cabinet line up look more like " Ali Baba and the forty thieves".... except now Ali Baba got nothing more to take away except problems, problems problems

Anonymous said...

ya tell that to dr tan seng giaw, whenever he is on tv esp. bernama, he talk as though he is in BN, even the pengacara said that yesterday.to me bernama is using dr tan just to show they are free media, they will not dare to call other dap, pkr esp pas main leaders. pls tell dr tan not to entertain bernama anymore pls...

Anonymous said...

Really, it is a NEW cabinet with boss being Najib, not Badawi. The rest all the same. If I see Najib in person I would like to ask why it is so difficult to choose good new people? It's basically the same old UMNO, MCA, Gerakan MIC fellas. And in the newspapers, it full of praises for the new cabinet. In China, they call it ' swapping the horse's fart'.

And Obama's cabinet only has 23 members. Singapore 21. Malaysia 28. This is not about anti establishment but the size and cabinet members are just unbelieveable.

Anonymous said...

Well said YB, This UMNO PM is 'cakap tak serupa bikin"
PM talking about KPI-lol......he needs to KPI himself first.

marcus63 said...

tony,
looking at the cabinet lineup, this once again prove umno will never change. the rogues gallery look more like a feudal power share than a meritocratic democracy, where the best talent should lead. but voila, here we have horse trading to divvy up the pie between the umno warlords & its co-conspirators. that is why they can never reduce the size of the cabinet; there are not enough ministers/deputy minister positions to go around. so the talk of a leaner and more efficient cabinet turns out to be hot air, as have all past promises been. the next to look out for is whether they will downsize the various ministerial departments. i doubt not.
as for the positioning of the various characters, it definitely has tun m's handprint all over. there are so many recycled yes men from his era such as dr awang adek (mr ipp) and this shaziman fella taking over public works, which will ensure more projects are dished out to cronies. not the least mukhriz will be the new ap prince, mustapha (mr fish container) having too much baggage to contain him.
lastly, since this is a feudal cabinet, najib obviously crowns himself king, after having usurped this position since the perak coup d'etat, he needs to surround himself with eunuchs, to display to all the world to see the regality and splendour of his court. for these, he selected those who were castrated during the 308 elections (btw didnt you tony caused the castration of 1 of them haha) to ensure they can only whimper and forever enslaved to his rule.
in conclusion, this is umno's interpretation of constitutional monarcy. they are kings, and the rest are serfs.

klooi said...

Hi Tony, the may 13 woman who lost to you was also appointed through back door, what a laugh, ha ha!

Anonymous said...

it is still a half-past six cabinet!

Anonymous said...

the seat should be reserved for he professionals, not for losers.

Anonymous said...

I peer into my crystal ball! I see the future....I see many new millionaires coming up....hehe
I hope Najib gave the former selangor MB a KPI...hehe

Anonymous said...

A cabinet full of has-beens, rejects & balls carriers. Malaysia is worst than the Philippines.

Eric said...

Tony;

High time for PR to come up with a shadow cabinet, since BN appears committed to ensure PR is the next federal government ;)
While we are here, whatever happened to our third vote?

Eric

PS: thanks for your involvement in the PRK.

Anonymous said...

This is a RECYCLED cabinet.

So obvious ..so many Politic REJECTS. Just like recycled plastic/newspaper...collect the rejects goods then processed with mixture of new ones ..& turn up into Recycled Goods & sold to public. But recylced goods are of poor quality as it was from the TRASH.


Also like to point out..why is there only 1 Indian in the Minister line up...MIC redundant ah?

ipohHUNK

amoker said...

I just saw a new banner in Jalan sultan ismail today...

Barisan Berani Berubah

Ah, slogan shouting and speeches won't do good. These are just propogandas. The size is the same with AAB, the people are 80% the same and with discards.

Anonymous said...

Tony,
Well, it's time for Pakatan Rakyat to reposition itself as an alternative government. Better still, must map out second generation leaders
PAP has been very successful in the past because LKY has chosen the right people to run the right ministries. In Pakatan Rakyat, we need visionary leader & capable lieutenants.
Furthermore, Pakatan Rakyat must come up with a roadmap of capturing Sabah & Sarawak. Annihilating local bullys such as PBB. Tough! Must tread along carefully but yet able to make necessary call whenever neccessary
LKY has mentioned that if all races are given equal oportunities, Malaysia would have surpassed Singapore long time ago. We have potentials to succeed.

looes74

By the way, LGE has to map out 2nd generation leaders just like PAP with certain key people being there for mentor & guidance

Anonymous said...

Dont worry, BN will kowtow to voters ib Sarawak n sabah to remain in govt.

Anonymous said...

honestly if mr najib is ceo of a company the company will bankrupt within months

leedon said...

Putting KTK to be incharge of unity and performance is a great mistake. The poor guy can't even control Ahmad Ismail, and now he has to keep track of all other ministers' performance. What a joke!

Anonymous said...

i want TONY PUA as our Finance Minister. I'm very sure he will manage the countries coffers more prudently to help the Rakyat with the economy deteriorating as each day passes.

LFS

Anonymous said...

1Malaysia must not be Malay First and umno NOW !!!

Anonymous said...

well, i think it's time to stop the criticism & put in place positive action instead to give some competition to the new closet.

the no.1 rule in bn-politics is to select those who will say 'yes' to you if you were to remain as top leader (in this case, a tyrant). anyone who opposed will be banished.

we need 28 clothes hangers is because we are very rich country & lots of $$$ to siphon from tax-payers coffers. more ministry, means more spending, means more mark-ups, means more ap (purchase of imported luxury cars) to selected privilegee few, means nothing left for the rakyat. for this reason, not enough $$$ to maintain toll roads. rakyat have to fork it out for government. then government say they are subsidising our petrol. so who is subsidising the toll roads & toll companies that claim to make losses every year, then get compensation from tax-payers vault?

next we will hear "since we have less 2 ministries, we can afford to increase the salary of other ministries"...mark my words.

the ministers have kpi...this is a joke if we can't see the details of the kpi. the overall kpi should then account to the PM's kpi. the person who will review the PM's kpi will be the agong & rakyat.

Anonymous said...

Yeah, Yeah..Dato Najeb should resign. Put DSAI as PM, Lim Kit Siang as Deputy PM 1 and Haji Hadi as Deputy PM 2. Then It is a new cabinet. haha

Anonymous said...

It is not Najip cabinet but more like Najip - Tun M alliance cabinet. Tun still wants to be in power!!after announcing to the world he would not be involved in politics after retired but he became the villian and more active in politic and lash his tongue at every thing and every word said by Badawee cabinet.Hebat sekali.As long as Tun M is still alive, Umno would be no change and still under Tun control bec old habits die hard, once a corrupt always a corrupt.