Kadir Jasin: Khairy the only 'stand out' in Ismail Sabri's cabinet

 

Veteran journalist A Kadir Jasin has questioned why in Ismail Sabri Yaakob’s cabinet, only the name of Khairy Jamaluddin stands out in a positive manner.

Touching on the new prime minister’s cabinet, which has been labeled as “recycled” from the previous Muhyiddin Yassin administration, Kadir said the current cabinet did not show any improvement and was not convincing.

“If Ismail Sabri’s cabinet is great and stands out, Khairy would certainly not be the only one who attracts commentators and social media activists,” he said in a post on Facebook today.

Kadir said many are pinning their hopes on Khairy as former health minister Dr Adham Baba and former international trade and industry minister Azmin Ali had failed to perform in the previous government.

“Many commentators and social media participants gave positive comments and placed high hopes on him.

“This may be because of the government ministers under Muhyiddin who were directly involved in controlling the Covid-19 pandemic, Khairy is one of the most successful, although not without controversy,” Kadir said in a comment on Sinar Harian.

He said, although initially there were some weaknesses and controversies in handling the national vaccination programme, the performance of the Rembau MP as the coordinating minister of the National Covid-19 Immunisation Program (NIP) was quite excellent during the 17 months in Muhyiddin’s government.

For the record, apart from Ismail Sabri, there are 30 members of Parliament and senators appointed to the cabinet in the government formed after Muhyiddin resigned on August 16.

Aside from Khairy and Adham swapping roles, many key positions such as that of finance, home, education, transport, works, and human resources saw the same faces retained from Muhyiddin's line-up.

There is also no deputy prime minister named, with four “senior ministers” similar to Muhyiddin’s cabinet.

Former religious affairs minister Zulkifli Mohamad, plantation industries and commodities minister Mohd Khairuddin Aman Razali and special functions minister Mohd Redzuan Md Yusof were among the few to be jettisoned by the new prime minister, who said that the cabinet will undergo a performance review after its first 100 days. - Mkini