|Only 20% of new faces in line-up|
|Apr 9, 09 5:01pm|
While there was great expectation of an infusion of new blood in Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak’s cabinet, there are only six fresh faces among the 28 ministers named today.
Among the six, two were promoted from their deputy minister’s posts.
In an immediate reaction, social reform movement Aliran expressed disappointment that Najib has retained the majority of ministers from the previous cabinet.
Aliran president P Ramakrishnan lamented that these old faces were part of a government that had previously failed to deliver.
“Now they have been assembled once again under a new leadership and it is left to be seen whether this new grouping will deliver on the prime minister’s promises,” he said.
Ramakrishnan also said that had been little change in the size of Malaysia’s jumbo cabinet.
“There have been speculations that the new cabinet would be smaller than the previou s one. Well, it’s smaller in the sense there are 28 ministers now as compared to the previous 32.
“But it is bigger in another sense. There is an increase in the deputy ministers in that there are now 40 as compared to 38 in the previous administration.”
Thursday, April 09, 2009
There it goes again, the return of mostly half-past six cabinet members from previous kitchen.