PETALING JAYA: Appointing a deputy prime minister can be done without increasing operational costs if that is what is feared by certain quarters, says a Bersatu leader whose party is demanding the position.
Former minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Redzuan Yusof said this could be done by eliminating the “senior” rank of certain ministers and reducing the number of deputy ministers.
“By doing this, no ministerial portfolios will be lost but costs can be cut,” he told FMT.
He was asked to comment on the debate among various parties on Bersatu pressing Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob to keep his pledge of offering the party the deputy prime minister’s post in exchange for its support to him for the premiership.
He said if there was indeed an understanding with Bersatu president Muhyiddin Yassin on the matter, Ismail has the power to appoint a person who can strengthen his Cabinet and not for ”ceremonial” purposes.
Redzuan said his stand is the same as what he had suggested to Ismail during his first week in office last year when he told him that a change in leadership should have come along with a more efficient and smaller Cabinet.
“This would have given an impression that the new prime minister is being frugal and has initiated impactful changes with reduced expenditure. Having senior ministers with perks has been seen by the public as not being aligned to what the rakyat wants.”
On speculation that a Bersatu survey among its Supreme Council members had chosen its secretary-general Hamzah Zainudin over vice-president Azmin Ali to be nominated as the deputy prime minister, Redzuan said he was not aware of this.
“If it was so, why were there only two names although there are others who are just as eligible as they had fought in GE14 with Bersatu? Not to mention that the two are ‘orang datang’ (party-hoppers),” he said.
He said those eligible include original Bersatu members who have continued to be ministers in three different governments within a single term.
“And if the poll was conducted based on merit, don’t you think I should have been in the list?” he quipped.
Ismail was to have met Hamzah on the matter last Thursday but the meeting was cancelled at the last minute.
At the Dewan Negara on Tuesday, it was a Bersatu minister, Abdul Latiff Ahmad, who downplayed the need for a deputy prime minister, saying Putrajaya believed the current Cabinet line-up was adequate.
Latiff also stressed that the appointment of ministers and their deputies was the prerogative of the prime minister. - FMT
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