Najib appoints Hisham as special functions minister

Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak has appointed Hishammuddin Hussein as a Minister in the Prime Minister's Department in charge of special functions.

Najib said the appointment takes immediate effect.

Hishammuddin, who is the prime minister's cousin and an Umno vice-president, will retain his defence portfolio as well.

"This appointment will allow Hishammuddin to execute his duty apart from his responsibilities as defence minister," Najib said.

This makes Hishammuddin the 10th Minister in the Prime Minister's Department under Najib's cabinet.

The first known special functions minister was Ghazali Shafie, who was appointed in 1970 in then PM Abdul Razak Hussein's cabinet.

In April 1972, Ghazali was re-appointed as special functions minister and information minister and entrusted to design, plan and implement the New Economic Policy and the Second Malaysian Plan.

Former Umno treasurer Daim Zainuddin was appointed into Dr Mahathir Mohamad's cabinet as a special functions minister on June 26, 1998, and this led to his re-appointment as finance minister.

Daim resigned as finance minister on May 31, 2001.

Mohammad Effendi Norwawi was appointed special functions minister in 2004 under Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, and was appointed as special officer at the Higher Education Ministry the same year.

Effendi returned to cabinet as a minister in the Prime Minister's Department in 2006, where he was in charge of coordinating the 9th Malaysia Plan.

He was previously agriculture minister and with that post Effendi was attached to the Prime Minister's Department.

-Mkini