Give ministers a year to shape up or ship out, says analyst

PETALING JAYA: A political analyst has suggested that Dr Mahathir Mohamad give under-performing ministers at least a year to buck up before deciding to dismiss any of them.

Commenting on unconfirmed reports that the prime minister may reshuffle his Cabinet sooner than a year after it was fully formed, Faisal Hazis of Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia told FMT he believed such a move would not be fair to those who were still trying to get accustomed to their jobs.

He noted that most of the ministers are greenhorns. “They are still learning the ropes,” he said, but added that only “one or two are making a lot of mistakes”.

He spoke of “those who keep breaking the Pakatan Harapan (PH) manifesto or whose decisions are against the Pakatan spirit” and said Mahathir should test their suitability to their posts by giving them tasks to fulfil.

“If they fail, then boot them out as soon as possible and replace them with technocrats if the talent pool in PH is limited,” he added.

As for the others, he said, Mahathir should give them one year from the dates they were appointed to improve their performance.

Faisal said a few ministers were holding their positions well but others were “always on social media and making controversial statements”.

He also said all of the Cabinet members should by now have had clear ideas of how to improve the performance of departments within their ministries.

“If they are not familiar with certain units or departments, there are enough knowledgeable public servants to guide them.”

He alleged, without giving details, that some ministers would not accept advice from members of the public, including experts.

He urged “those who think they know best” to exercise humility and listen to others in the awareness that they were new to their jobs and couldn’t possibly know everything they needed to know.

With the exception of Mahathir, Home Minister Muhyiddin Yassin and Foreign Minister Saifuddin Abdullah, none of the Cabinet members have previously served as federal ministers. However, Economic Affairs Minister Mohamed Azmin Ali has served as menteri besar of Selangor and Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng as chief minister of Penang. -FMT