Anwar must have a cabinet reshuffle immediately – OpEd

Not doing so will cost his government dearly

Many were surprised over the composition of Anwar’s first cabinet last December. It could certainly not be called a cabinet of meritocracy. It could certainly not be called a cabinet filled with talent. It could certainly not be called a cabinet of competence. Its even doubtful the cabinet complies with the Madani test: sustainability, prosperity, innovation, respect, trust, and compassion.

This is certainly the case when some ministers don’t bother to turn up for cabinet meetings, while others are not even on speaking terms.

Initially, many made the excuse that Anwar’s cabinet was the product of a ‘unity government’ and had to accommodate different stakeholders with different ideologies.

Many buried their heads in the sand, when the cabinet was quickly displaying shallowness and even incompetence. Many were angry when these weaknesses were even pointed out, claiming that the government should be beyond criticism for the greater good.

We found a number of ministers finding great difficulty in making the transition from opposition MPs to ministers. We hoped they would settle down and progress up the learning curve very quickly.

We saw the cheap stunts. Giving free sanitary pads to elite civil servants, while many mothers in the nation couldn’t even afford to buy milk for their infants.

We saw menu Ramlah hurt food stall operators. We saw the minister for the economy call in his predecessor for assistance and advice.

Still everyone said ‘bagi Anwar masa’.

If we fast forward to Anwar’s visit to Saudi Arabia, many are still asking what did he go for? A courtesy call to the head of the OIC?

Then the 19 MOUs signed in China, supposedly bringing RM 170 billion investment to Malaysia. Upon closer examination, most of these MOUs just didn’t stack up.

Then we have the minister for law providing information to the Najib Razak defense counsel to assist in a pardon. Now we are seeing rumblings of abuse of power, corruption, and self-centered actions in a number of pockets of the administration.

These are just some of the examples that many of you may be aware of, and others have written in detail about.

The bottom line here is that Anwar must have an immediate cabinet reshuffle, or risk a terrible result in the coming state elections. The future of the Anwar administration depends up an urgent change in the cabinet line-up.

Not acting may cost Anwar dearly.

The changes that need to be made concern a number of ministers. For example, we have two deputy prime ministers, so Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, might be best to take leave of absence until he clears his court cases.

That would suck away all the oxygen from the Perikatan Nasional in the coming elections.

The three economics-based ministries need a big reorganizing. At least one minister could be cut here, and the ministry broken up and placed into others. There is already a large ensemble of economic advisors already. No need to overlap here.

People are still suffering economically and finding it difficult to make ends meet. The Anwar cabinet is not coming up with the solutions.

The reality is that people are not going to vote on race and religion this coming election. They are going to vote on their difficulties of paying for food and housing. It won’t be a ‘green wave’, it will be a ‘rising cost of living’ revolt.

There are many ministers that need to be replaced. Some of them senior ones. Many know who they are.

The heart of the matter is that if there is not an urgent cabinet reshuffle, the Anwar administration will become impotent. Malaysians need strong leadership in difficult times.  

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