'Old faces in new cabinet' – Zaid warns Zahid against premature claims

The blame for the failures of the previous government does not lie squarely on the shoulders of a single person, noted former minister Zaid Ibrahim.

Emphasising on collective responsibility, he said it is unfair to point the finger at former premier Muhyiddin Yassin alone.

Zaid (above) also warned Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi against making premature claims with regard to the new government's performance.

“It is not fair to attribute the failures to Muhyiddin alone. That is why the ministers resigned together with Muhyiddin. It is collective responsibility.

“In fact, someone not connected with the past government should have been appointed prime minister,” he told Malaysiakini this afternoon.

“Zahid's retort that the new government won't be a failure like Muhyiddin's is premature. We don't know who the cabinet members are, they might be those who contributed to Muhyiddin's failure,” he added.

Last Saturday, Umno vice-president Ismail Sabri Yaakob was sworn in as the ninth prime minister replacing Muhyiddin, who was forced to step down after losing majority support in Parliament.

Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi

Zahid and the Umno lawmakers aligned with him had criticised the Perikatan Nasional government for failing to contain the Covid-19 pandemic.

Following Zahid and 14 other Umno MPs withdrawing their support, Muhyiddin had to relinquish his post after 17 months in power.

However, Muhyiddin and his party Bersatu subsequently backed Ismail Sabri to become prime minister.

Ismail Sabri had served as the senior minister in charge of the security cluster in the previous administration prior to his appointment as deputy prime minister.

Various quarters had criticised him together with former minister of international trade and industry Azmin Ali for the worsening Covid-19 situation.

Sources are now claiming that Azmin is tipped to be the new deputy prime minister.

In a Facebook post last night, Zahid said the new government must avoid the mistakes of its predecessor and live up to the people's expectations.

The Umno president repeated some of his previous criticisms of the PN government, including on the loan moratorium and haphazard enforcement of the movement control order.

Zahid's list of alleged failures included what he described as “dangerous populist decisions” such as allowing too much relaxation before herd immunity was achieved. - Mkini