A man watches a live telecast of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob’s speech in Kuala Lumpur August 27, 2021. — Picture by Miera Zulyana
KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 27 — Both Umno and Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) were given the lion’s share in the newly formed Cabinet line-up announced by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob this morning.
Under the new Cabinet line-up and the political parties ministers are affiliated with, both Umno and Bersatu had an equal number of 10 Cabinet ministers appointed each followed by Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) at four ministers.
PAS trails behind at three ministers with Barisan Nasional component parties Parti Bersatu Sabah, MCA and MIC each given a ministerial post.
All but one Cabinet minister are appointed federal lawmakers of a political party.
At 31 Cabinet members, the latest Cabinet line-up under Ismail Sabri also retained the same number of ministers as the previous short-lived Perikatan Nasional (PN) government under Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.
When compared with the previous PN government’s Cabinet line-up, only Umno gained an additional Cabinet ministerial position while other political parties retained the status quo In terms of the number of Cabinet posts given.
Earlier today, Ismail Sabri announced more or less the same Cabinet lineup that made the previous administration, with allies close to him retaining most senior posts although no deputy prime minister was named.
Among the most notable, Datuk Seri Azmin Ali from Bersatu kept his post as senior minister in charge of the International Trade and Industry Ministry while Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainuddin did the same as home minister.
Senator Datuk Seri Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz was also kept as finance minister.
Khairy Jamaluddin, whose short stint as Science, Technology and Innovation minister overlooking the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme had been both praised and criticised, is now the new health minister.
Datuk Seri Dr Adham Baba, who previously helmed the Health Ministry portfolio, takes over from Khairy.
Both MIC and MCA retained their previous ministerial portfolio, with Datuk Seri Wee Ka Siong and Datuk Seri M. Saravanan as transport minister and human resources minister respectively.