Dr M hopes to form cabinet of 10 ministers this week

Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad says that he hopes his initial cabinet lineup of 10 ministers can be formed by this week.

"I hope (we can) form the cabinet with 10 core ministers by this week," he told a press conference today after a meeting with deputy prime minister and PKR president Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail.

Mahathir also stressed that the final decision on cabinet appointments was up to him, after Pakatan Harapan component parties submitted their lists of names for consideration.

"Wan Azizah has submitted a list of 10 names when we asked for only three names. However, the first three are the priority in the list," he said.

"Amanah president Mohamad Sabu did not come (to today’s meeting), he just mailed us (the party’s list) for our consideration," he added.

Yesterday, Mahathir noted that he was drawing inspiration from former prime minister Tunku Abdul Rahman's formation of the first cabinet, by selecting 10 core ministers first, and threafter expanding that to 25.

He also noted that the first 10 cabinet positions would not be based on the proportion of seats won by Harapan parties.

Of the 10, Mahathir had named three ministers last week, for the portfolios of finance, defence and home affairs.

However, PKR later expressed concerns about the inclusiveness of the decision, which was conveyed to Mahathir by PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim during a meeting.

[More to follow] -Mkini