BN man among eight senators sworn-in today

The senators appointed today may have boosted the number of Pakatan Harapan senators in the Senate where BN still holds a simple majority.

But Malaysiakini understands that one of the eight senators sworn-in by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong today is from BN.

A Dewan Negara source has told Malaysiakini that the newly-appointed Ismail Ibrahim is a BN senator.

The source said Ismail's name was submitted to the Agong before the 14th general election, but due to the dissolution of the Dewan Rakyat, his appointment was put off until now.

"(Ismail's) appointment was supposed to be earlier... but due to the election, it was postponed," the source said.

There are now 51 senators out of 70 available seats, with 28 of them from BN.

The remaining are split between Pakatan Harapan, Gabungan Parti Sarawak, PAS, Gerakan and NGO representatives.

Only six senators are from Pakatan Harapan.

Senators serve three-year terms, with a maximum of two terms per person.

Aside from Ismail, two other senators, Hussain Awang from Terengganu and Asmak Husin from Kelantan were appointed through the state government quota.

Both the Kelantan and Terengganu governments are led by PAS.

The other senators appointed today through the federal government's quota are DAP's Liew Chin Tong, Amanah's Raja Kamarul Bahrin Shah Raja Ahmad, Hindraf's P Waythamoorthy, Bersatu's Mohd Radzi Md Jidin and Marzuki Yahya.

Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad had previously said the remaining members of his government will be filled by senators.

A new minister and several deputy ministers will be sworn in at Istana Negara later this evening.

They will likely come from among the five senators mentioned above.

At present, there are 27 ministers and 23 deputy ministers. - Mkini