Cabinet picked to buttress Najib's bid to retain Umno presidency - Insitutut Rakyat

Following a narrowly won mandate at the recently concluded 13th General Election (GE13), Malaysia's 7th Prime Minister Dato' Seri Najib Razak appears at first glance to be striking a balance in his new cabinet line-up by closing a few gaps and addressing several disparities:

Peninsular Malaysia and East Malaysia (Sabah and Sarawak) - 13 in total i.e. the highest number from East Malaysia in history as full ministers (8 from Sarawak and 5 from Sabah) versus 22 from the Peninsula Malaysia compared to 6 in total from East Malaysia versus 25 from the Peninsula in the last cabinet;

> Increasing the representation of private sector professionals with no party affiliation and/or technocrats versus full-time politicians with the appointment or reappointment of Dato' Sri Abdul Wahid Omar, Chief Executive Officer of Maybank Group; Datuk Paul Low Seng Kuan, president of Transparency International-Malaysia and Dato' Sri Idris Jala, current Minister in the Prime Minister's Department.

> Nonetheless, it was an even worse outing for Prime Minister Najib at GE13 as he has failed to increase the number of Parliamentary seats won by Barisan Nasional (BN) in GE13, winning only 133 Parliamentary and 275 state seats in 12 states, down from 140 out of 222 and 306 out of 505 previously although he managed to raise the number of Parliamentary seats won by UMNO to 88 from 79 at GE12. Not to mention the hollow victory amidst allegations of rampant electoral irregularities and fraud which Pakatan Rakyat leaders are compiling evidence to file for electoral petitions in court.

Challenges to Umno presidency

As he was unable to regain the BN's customary two-thirds supermajority, Institut Rakyat foresees challenges to his presidency at the UMNO party polls. Making overtures to the growing right-wing elements within UMNO for "Ketuanan Melayu", PM Najib has even put the blame on the infamous "Chinese tsunami" for BN's poor showing at GE13 although in reality, it is more reflective of an urban-rural or digital divide than anything else.

Prime Minister Najib’s choice of cabinet members clearly reflects a strategy to consolidate his power and buttress support for his personal political survival as the party president ahead of UMNO's Annual General Meeting in October/November 2013 at the expense of national reform and economic transformation agenda.

Institut Rakyat is disappointed in the line-up of PM Najib’s cabinet since in essence, there is nothing transformational, moderate nor national unity-driven about this newly minted cabinet in view of the following concerns:

Total absence of cabinet reforms for a better check-and-balance system particularly in preventing abuse and unsubstantiated overly generous spending of public funds - The number of ministerial posts increased to 35 (from 31 in the last cabinet) although the number of deputy ministers remains at 26 while some ministers hold more than one portfolio concurrently. Of particular concern is the unhealthy "tradition" and bad precedent established since the Mahathir administration for the Prime Minister to simultaneously be the powerful Minister of Finance. This is not a common practice in other Commonwealth countries for the simple reason that some basic check and balance must be exercised on how the executive commands the national purse.

Perceived reward for failures - Two UMNO Vice-Presidents, namely Dato' Sri Hishammuddin Hussein (new Defence Minister) and Dato' Sri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi (new Home Minister) were allowed to swap senior cabinet positions despite their respective colossal failures to ensure national security and prevent casualties in the Lahad Datu incident as well as Hishamuddin’s dismal failure to rein in crime.

Raising women representation remains a mere lip service - There are only 2 women ministers (out of 35) and 5 women deputy ministers (out of 26) in this cabinet, equivalent to 7 out of 61 ministerial and deputy ministerial posts compared to 5 out of 57 (2 women ministers and 3 women deputy ministers) in the last cabinet. This is far short of the 30% target the BN government itself has set.

Serious lack of commitment to meaningful reforms nor real intention to break from the past - "Musical chair" appointment of old hands and UMNO veterans, even promotion of remnants from the Mahathir administration such as former Perlis Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Shahidan Kassim and Umno secretary-general Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor, negating injection of some new blood such as UMNO and BN Youth Chief Khairy Jamaluddin, and Dato' Abdul Rahman Dahlan, Sabah BN Secretary.

Continuation of UMNO domination and absence of real "power sharing" within BN - UMNO retained 21 positions as ministers and 17 as deputy ministers, the same as in the last cabinet, holding on to key ministries such as Finance, Education & Higher Learning, Home Affairs, Defence and International Trade & Industry to reward Prime Minister's loyalists and devotees instead of appointing real reformers such as Dato' Saifuddin Abdullah or more new faces for fresh ideas.

Decline in cabinet representation of the Chinese community and low representation of other minority communities - Only 2 representatives of Chinese descent from both Peninsular Malaysia and East Malaysia i.e. one minister and one deputy minister, down from 6 ministers and 10 deputy ministers in the last cabinet due to the refusal by MCA and to a lesser extent, Gerakan to participate in the new cabinet as a result of their dismal performance at the GE13. Representation of Malaysians of Indian descent continues to be low with only two full ministers and four deputy ministers, the same as in the previous cabinet.

Further mismanagement of anti-corruption measures - The appointment of Transparency International- Malaysia president Datuk Paul Low to the Prime Minister’s Department promises to be problematic. It is likely that Najib has picked Low to lend some anti-corruption legitimacy in the wake of Malaysia’s declining corruption standards based on the Transparency International's Corruption Perception Index. Whilst Low may be a veteran graft-fighting advocate, any move to make him a de facto ‘Minister of Anti-Corruption’ would continue the trend of concentrating all anti-corruption powers within the Prime Minister’s Department. The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission reports to the Prime Minister’s Department and has proven to be singularly ineffective in rolling back the scourge of corruption. The executive branch of government cannot police corruption because it is the principle subject of scrutiny. Anti-corruption measures should be independent of the executive. Adding to Institut Rakyat’s concerns about corruption is the cabinet appointment of leaders tainted with corruption allegations such as Datuk Tajuddin Abdul Rahman (who was sacked from UMNO in 1995 following allegations of money politics to secure his position as a division chief and associated to the controversial RM1.3 billion contract for the Tapah campus of Universiti Teknologi Mara) and Dato' Seri Idris Jusoh (allegations of mismanagement and misappropriation of Wang Ehsan, the 5% oil royalty for Terengganu).

Talent vacuum

PM Najib Razak, together with his UMNO and Barisan Nasional team, is suffering from a severe lack of talent to draw from. This is due to the culture of cronyism and patronage within the party and the coalition that has ultimately led to a dearth of capable, talented and experienced individuals able to lead the government to reform. Cabinet representation in such key areas as finance, crime, education, and national defence appear to be a recycling of non-performing members of the old guard.

Institut Rakyat is greatly concerned that the new Cabinet will neither be serious nor able to tackle the sort of fundamental changes required in our country to address socio-economic problems Malaysians face nor democratic ideals Malaysians aspire. The new cabinet is indeed a PM Najib Razak's team of old-timers and personal cheerleaders to defend his UMNO presidency.

Institut Rakyat