Najib battled unhappy Umno over Idris job
KUALA LUMPUR: Datuk Seri Najib Razak has come off winning an argument within Umno, whose warlords are unhappy that rank outsider Datuk Seri Idris Jala has been made a Cabinet minister instead of any of them.
They had argued that as elected representatives of the people, Cabinet positions should be their reserve and not be given to outsiders. Umno has 79 federal lawmakers, out of the 139 within the ruling Barisan Nasional government.
Idris was sworn in as a senator in parliament this morning and will now work as a minister without portfolio in the Prime Minister’s Department, focusing on implementing the administration’s Key Performance Index (KPIs) programme — seen as crucial to the prime minister’s efforts to win back sliding public support.
It is understood that the Umno president has also told party officials that where necessary and when certain skill sets are required, he will cast his net wider — and outside Umno.
In this instance, Najib believes Idris is the best man for the KPI job, apart from being the chief executive officer of the Performance Management and Delivery Unit (Pemandu) that will drive the programme.
“He is goal-oriented and has shown the ability to get results. Also, because Idris is not a politician, he will be able to ensure that KPIs for ministers are carried out without fear or favour,” a government source told The Malaysian Insider.
The former Malaysia Airlines chief executive follows former Malayan Banking Berhad CEO Tan Sri Amirsham A. Aziz as those tapped to serve the government. Amirsham, who joined Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s government last year, is now chairman of the council of economic advisers to Najib.
Idris will report to Senator Tan Sri Koh Tsu Koon, who is minister in charge of national unity and performance management apart from reporting to Najib on other tasks. The new appointment makes Idris the 29th minister in Najib’s cabinet.
Najib took office on April 3 promising to cut down what was seen as Abdullah’s bloated cabinet of 32 ministers. The country’s sixth prime minister scrapped some ministries and moved some units and departments to other ministries, giving fewer Cabinet chances to his lawmakers.
Analysts say Najib will have to cull his overweight Cabinet and push the ministers to show results before the next general elections either in 2012 or early 2013, or risk a greater loss than Election 2008 where it lost four states and its customary two-thirds parliamentary majority. Since then, Barisan has lost all six by-elections it contested in West Malaysia. It sat out the Penanti by-election and only won Batang Ai in Sarawak.
It is also learnt that Najib made it clear that while elected representatives should be considered for high positions in the government, their first job should be to serve the people who had voted them in.
The Barisan Nasional chairman was concerned that some Umno representatives have a cavalier approach towards going to ground and serving the constituents. Their absence has been a gripe among voters, who say their representatives only show up for ministerial visits or elections.
“In short, he is saying being an Umno politician does not mean that you automatically qualify for a top job,” the source said.
Among high-profile Umno lawmakers out of the Cabinet is Umno Youth leader Khairy Jamaluddin and several Umno supreme council members such as Datuk Seri Jamaluddin Jarjis, who is, however, Malaysian ambassador to the United States with ministerial rank.
MI
01/09/09
KUALA LUMPUR: Datuk Seri Najib Razak has come off winning an argument within Umno, whose warlords are unhappy that rank outsider Datuk Seri Idris Jala has been made a Cabinet minister instead of any of them.
They had argued that as elected representatives of the people, Cabinet positions should be their reserve and not be given to outsiders. Umno has 79 federal lawmakers, out of the 139 within the ruling Barisan Nasional government.
Idris was sworn in as a senator in parliament this morning and will now work as a minister without portfolio in the Prime Minister’s Department, focusing on implementing the administration’s Key Performance Index (KPIs) programme — seen as crucial to the prime minister’s efforts to win back sliding public support.
It is understood that the Umno president has also told party officials that where necessary and when certain skill sets are required, he will cast his net wider — and outside Umno.
In this instance, Najib believes Idris is the best man for the KPI job, apart from being the chief executive officer of the Performance Management and Delivery Unit (Pemandu) that will drive the programme.
“He is goal-oriented and has shown the ability to get results. Also, because Idris is not a politician, he will be able to ensure that KPIs for ministers are carried out without fear or favour,” a government source told The Malaysian Insider.
The former Malaysia Airlines chief executive follows former Malayan Banking Berhad CEO Tan Sri Amirsham A. Aziz as those tapped to serve the government. Amirsham, who joined Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s government last year, is now chairman of the council of economic advisers to Najib.
Idris will report to Senator Tan Sri Koh Tsu Koon, who is minister in charge of national unity and performance management apart from reporting to Najib on other tasks. The new appointment makes Idris the 29th minister in Najib’s cabinet.
Najib took office on April 3 promising to cut down what was seen as Abdullah’s bloated cabinet of 32 ministers. The country’s sixth prime minister scrapped some ministries and moved some units and departments to other ministries, giving fewer Cabinet chances to his lawmakers.
Analysts say Najib will have to cull his overweight Cabinet and push the ministers to show results before the next general elections either in 2012 or early 2013, or risk a greater loss than Election 2008 where it lost four states and its customary two-thirds parliamentary majority. Since then, Barisan has lost all six by-elections it contested in West Malaysia. It sat out the Penanti by-election and only won Batang Ai in Sarawak.
It is also learnt that Najib made it clear that while elected representatives should be considered for high positions in the government, their first job should be to serve the people who had voted them in.
The Barisan Nasional chairman was concerned that some Umno representatives have a cavalier approach towards going to ground and serving the constituents. Their absence has been a gripe among voters, who say their representatives only show up for ministerial visits or elections.
“In short, he is saying being an Umno politician does not mean that you automatically qualify for a top job,” the source said.
Among high-profile Umno lawmakers out of the Cabinet is Umno Youth leader Khairy Jamaluddin and several Umno supreme council members such as Datuk Seri Jamaluddin Jarjis, who is, however, Malaysian ambassador to the United States with ministerial rank.
MI
01/09/09
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