All governments should be lean, and more so for those who are infamously obese - such as that of Malaysia. Despite being the sole superpower, the United States’ cabinet appointed by President Barack Obama contains no more than 16 members. Even when those who do not attend cabinet meetings on a regular basis but enjoy the rank of a cabinet minister are included, the total number is no more than 22.
Across the Atlantic Ocean in Britain, whose population and influence are many times the size of Malaysia, the numbers of successive cabinets almost always hover around 22. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd of Australia has only 19 cabinet colleagues to work alongside him.
Size does matter in government, and in many cases, the smaller the better.
Malaysia is only a tiny country, its pretension to be otherwise nonetheless. Still, the number of cabinet ministers at one time went up to as many as 33 under Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.
Koh Tsu Koon fulfills dream
Najib, his successor, had promised to downsize and streamline his first cabinet, which only turned out to be a lip service. The new prime minister’s hands were tied by factional resistance as well as race-based political considerations, with the MCA refusing to “lose weight” and demanding its quota be maintained. In the end, Najib could only reduce the total number of cabinet ministers to 28, not far behind that of India, whose cabinet is perpetually bloated and plagued with bureaucratic inefficiency.
The Prime Minister’s Department alone takes up four ministers. Among them, only Nazri Abdul Aziz, Minister in charge of Law and Parliament, and Nor Mohamed Yaakop of the powerful Economic Planning Unit have real clout in terms of policy-making, the other two being merely superfluous.
Koh Tsu Koon, president of Gerakan, finally fulfilled his dream by entering the cabinet through the backdoor of Dewan Negara, tasked with monitoring unity and performance. But the post has not an iota of policy significance and it is a job that Koh can do without. That the former Penang chief minister who lost ignominiously in the general election last year was eager to assume a largely redundant ministerial post goes to show that many of the so-called Chinese leaders are more interested in the trappings of vanity than actual service for the people.
If there was a semblance of dignity left in Koh, he would have turned down the offer of senatorship and started working hard to regain political legitimacy through the ballot box. But he is just not a man of steel.
Khairy Jamaluddin’s failure to be recommended for a cabinet post clearly suggests both Najib and Dr Mahathir Mohamad are resolved to marginalize him. All Umno youth chiefs are traditionally expected to safeguard Malay interests in the cabinet. Too bad, that Khairy’s arrogant, pompous and flamboyant past has now caught up with him, and he only has himself to blame. Fortunately, that MCA Youth Chief Wee Ka Siong is also not given a full ministerial post, or the onus would be on Najib to lance the boil of anger coming from the younger members within the party.
Still, making Mukhriz Mahathir, who was defeated by Khairy in the Umno elections last month, and Razali Ismail, the Umno Deputy Youth chief who does not see eye to eye with his boss, deputy ministers was perhaps the most striking point in yesterday’s announcements, as it signifies Najib’s determination to leave the most famous son-in-law in the country out in the cold for sometime to come.
Khairy, learn from Zahid
While a defiant Khairy has brushed off the deliberate slight by the prime minister and claimed that he is now tasked with winning back youth support for Umno, the pretext is paltry at best. Since the promulgation of the New Economic Policy in 1971, no Umno leader would naively believe he/she could survive in the party without some form of a government post, as the resources and money that trickle down are to be utilized for networking and grooming his/her own followers; sacrificial love remains a myth.
To overcome the odds against him, Khairty must now seek out some survival tips from Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, especially on how the newly-appointed defence minister managed to make a legendary comeback after a serious fallout with Mahathir in the late 1990s which saw him briefly detained under the ISA.
But why is Ahmad Zahid given the defence portfolio? Well, he has long been Najib’s close confidant. With him in charge, perhaps all the dodgy submarine and helicopter deals in the past can remain buried, while any new evidence of the tragic and mysterious death of the Mongolian beauty Altantuya may be kept from public. Ever wonder why the new cabinet line-up was announced on the very same day when the two accused were sentenced to hang?
Hishammuddin Hussein Onn’s appointment as Minister of Home Affairs indicates that kinship-based politics is alive and kicking. Being Najib’s cousin, Hishammuddin is best-suited to supervise a ministry that yields wide-ranging powers - from police, the issuance of the printing permit to detention without trial – you name it. It could also be a move to check against Muhyiddin Yassin, the influential and popular deputy president of Umno, who has shown that he can be potentially troublesome when necessary.
Muhyiddin had time and again hinted at the home affairs portfolio, but his biggest drawback is his close ties with Mahathir. While Najib was not prepared to snub the old man, he did not want to pander to his taste too much either. In any case, having a man who is devoid of inspirations and with no track record of reform whatsoever in the Ministry of Education does not auger well for Malaysia.
No tears for Shahrir
And I shed no tears for any of the nine former ministers dropped from the cabinet, not even Shahrir Samad who loves to portray himself as some kind of a reformist but only sounded increasingly like Abdullah’s apologist towards the end. As his popularity wanes, that of his younger brother Khalid Samad, a liberal and broadminded leader of PAS, is on the rise.
But Shahrir remains a newsmaker throughout, and always knows how to steal the show. The moment he failed to secure a post in the Umno elections, he lost no time in announcing his cabinet resignation. Not a prime minister’s man, Shahrir saved himself from the humiliation of being asked to go, making his former colleagues – such as Rais Yatim and Syed Hamid Albar - appear hanging on to Najib’s coal tails. His adroit exploitation of the circumstances is perhaps a reason why Mahathir has been so jealous and resentful of him.
By and large, the new cabinet has failed to impress, as it contains too many familiar faces and too little talent. As the Bible says, one must not put new wine into old wineskins lest the old skins burst. Rather, one should pour new wine into new wineskins so that both are preserved.
Quite clearly, new wine in old wineskins is not desirable, much less old wine in old wineskins.
For all the optimistic sentiments over a reform-minded government - carefully manufactured by the Umno-linked media and the Barisan Nasional-friendly press, the new cabinet line-up as announced by Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak yesterday was a big let-down.
Malaysiakini
10/04/09
Across the Atlantic Ocean in Britain, whose population and influence are many times the size of Malaysia, the numbers of successive cabinets almost always hover around 22. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd of Australia has only 19 cabinet colleagues to work alongside him.
Size does matter in government, and in many cases, the smaller the better.
Malaysia is only a tiny country, its pretension to be otherwise nonetheless. Still, the number of cabinet ministers at one time went up to as many as 33 under Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.
Koh Tsu Koon fulfills dream
Najib, his successor, had promised to downsize and streamline his first cabinet, which only turned out to be a lip service. The new prime minister’s hands were tied by factional resistance as well as race-based political considerations, with the MCA refusing to “lose weight” and demanding its quota be maintained. In the end, Najib could only reduce the total number of cabinet ministers to 28, not far behind that of India, whose cabinet is perpetually bloated and plagued with bureaucratic inefficiency.
The Prime Minister’s Department alone takes up four ministers. Among them, only Nazri Abdul Aziz, Minister in charge of Law and Parliament, and Nor Mohamed Yaakop of the powerful Economic Planning Unit have real clout in terms of policy-making, the other two being merely superfluous.
Koh Tsu Koon, president of Gerakan, finally fulfilled his dream by entering the cabinet through the backdoor of Dewan Negara, tasked with monitoring unity and performance. But the post has not an iota of policy significance and it is a job that Koh can do without. That the former Penang chief minister who lost ignominiously in the general election last year was eager to assume a largely redundant ministerial post goes to show that many of the so-called Chinese leaders are more interested in the trappings of vanity than actual service for the people.
If there was a semblance of dignity left in Koh, he would have turned down the offer of senatorship and started working hard to regain political legitimacy through the ballot box. But he is just not a man of steel.
Khairy Jamaluddin’s failure to be recommended for a cabinet post clearly suggests both Najib and Dr Mahathir Mohamad are resolved to marginalize him. All Umno youth chiefs are traditionally expected to safeguard Malay interests in the cabinet. Too bad, that Khairy’s arrogant, pompous and flamboyant past has now caught up with him, and he only has himself to blame. Fortunately, that MCA Youth Chief Wee Ka Siong is also not given a full ministerial post, or the onus would be on Najib to lance the boil of anger coming from the younger members within the party.
Still, making Mukhriz Mahathir, who was defeated by Khairy in the Umno elections last month, and Razali Ismail, the Umno Deputy Youth chief who does not see eye to eye with his boss, deputy ministers was perhaps the most striking point in yesterday’s announcements, as it signifies Najib’s determination to leave the most famous son-in-law in the country out in the cold for sometime to come.
Khairy, learn from Zahid
While a defiant Khairy has brushed off the deliberate slight by the prime minister and claimed that he is now tasked with winning back youth support for Umno, the pretext is paltry at best. Since the promulgation of the New Economic Policy in 1971, no Umno leader would naively believe he/she could survive in the party without some form of a government post, as the resources and money that trickle down are to be utilized for networking and grooming his/her own followers; sacrificial love remains a myth.
To overcome the odds against him, Khairty must now seek out some survival tips from Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, especially on how the newly-appointed defence minister managed to make a legendary comeback after a serious fallout with Mahathir in the late 1990s which saw him briefly detained under the ISA.
But why is Ahmad Zahid given the defence portfolio? Well, he has long been Najib’s close confidant. With him in charge, perhaps all the dodgy submarine and helicopter deals in the past can remain buried, while any new evidence of the tragic and mysterious death of the Mongolian beauty Altantuya may be kept from public. Ever wonder why the new cabinet line-up was announced on the very same day when the two accused were sentenced to hang?
Hishammuddin Hussein Onn’s appointment as Minister of Home Affairs indicates that kinship-based politics is alive and kicking. Being Najib’s cousin, Hishammuddin is best-suited to supervise a ministry that yields wide-ranging powers - from police, the issuance of the printing permit to detention without trial – you name it. It could also be a move to check against Muhyiddin Yassin, the influential and popular deputy president of Umno, who has shown that he can be potentially troublesome when necessary.
Muhyiddin had time and again hinted at the home affairs portfolio, but his biggest drawback is his close ties with Mahathir. While Najib was not prepared to snub the old man, he did not want to pander to his taste too much either. In any case, having a man who is devoid of inspirations and with no track record of reform whatsoever in the Ministry of Education does not auger well for Malaysia.
No tears for Shahrir
And I shed no tears for any of the nine former ministers dropped from the cabinet, not even Shahrir Samad who loves to portray himself as some kind of a reformist but only sounded increasingly like Abdullah’s apologist towards the end. As his popularity wanes, that of his younger brother Khalid Samad, a liberal and broadminded leader of PAS, is on the rise.
But Shahrir remains a newsmaker throughout, and always knows how to steal the show. The moment he failed to secure a post in the Umno elections, he lost no time in announcing his cabinet resignation. Not a prime minister’s man, Shahrir saved himself from the humiliation of being asked to go, making his former colleagues – such as Rais Yatim and Syed Hamid Albar - appear hanging on to Najib’s coal tails. His adroit exploitation of the circumstances is perhaps a reason why Mahathir has been so jealous and resentful of him.
By and large, the new cabinet has failed to impress, as it contains too many familiar faces and too little talent. As the Bible says, one must not put new wine into old wineskins lest the old skins burst. Rather, one should pour new wine into new wineskins so that both are preserved.
Quite clearly, new wine in old wineskins is not desirable, much less old wine in old wineskins.
For all the optimistic sentiments over a reform-minded government - carefully manufactured by the Umno-linked media and the Barisan Nasional-friendly press, the new cabinet line-up as announced by Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak yesterday was a big let-down.
Malaysiakini
10/04/09
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