Loke is wrong, DAP did win big

 

From Ibrahim M Ahmad

DAP secretary-general Loke Siew Fook may be reluctant to admit it, but Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s newly-reshuffled Cabinet appears to have enhanced the party’s presence in government.

Occupying 40 seats in the lower house following the 15th general election (GE 15) last year, the party had legitimate grounds to demand a sizeable representation in the unity government.

Instead, Anwar Ibrahim’s original lineup from a year ago saw him bring only four ministers and six deputy ministers from the party into his Cabinet.

Tuesday’s reshuffle saw the PM name one more minister and another deputy minister from the party.

Loke, however, has been quick to play down talk that his party benefited the most from the shake-up. “In terms of net increase, it’s just one ministership,” he said, calling it a “fair adjustment”.

A closer look at that “adjustment”, however, raises several questions.

None, though about Loke, who has performed well enough as transport minister. Malaysians by and large recognise his efforts to improve public transportation and road safety, reduce toll rates and digitise various services, although his ministry still has a long way to go.

Likewise, local government development minister Nga Kor Ming also deserves his place in Cabinet, particularly for work on affordable housing, improving public amenities, upgrading fire and rescue services, and in empowering local authorities.

Other ministers named from the party, however, do not appear to have fared too well.

V Sivakumar was dropped after being mired in controversy for much of his short tenure as human resources minister, with several officials from his ministry accused of corruption.

His replacement, Steven Sim, has remained largely under the radar over the past year. A computer engineer by profession, how Sim’s skillset applied to his previous post as deputy finance minister was never clearly explained, just as what he can offer in his new portfolio remains to be seen.

In any case, Sim appears to be the blue-eyed boy of the party, and is being touted as a future chief minister of Penang.

Hannah Yeoh is a popular MP, but has dished out a mediocre performance as youth and sports minister.

Poor showings by the Malaysian contingent at this year’s Sea Games and Asian Games, a superficial training programme in preparation for the 2024 Paris Olympics, and a recent public falling out between the Olympic Council of Malaysia and the sports commissioner, still unresolved, are just some of the issues that have affected Malaysian sports under her watch.

On top of that, Cabinet colleague Tengku Zafrul Tengku Aziz, earmarked to take over the Badminton Association of Malaysia presidency, may not take too kindly to her recent plea for outgoing president Norza Zakaria to reconsider his decision to quit.

So, how is it that she still has the sports portfolio? Perhaps, sporting success is not much of a government priority these days.

Lawyer Gobind Singh Deo’s return to Cabinet, and specifically to the new digital ministry, is also cause for some head-scratching.

Within six months of his appointment as communications and multimedia minister in 2018, an online petition emerged accusing him of lacking understanding of the telecommunications industry. Worse, he was also accused of being biased against Telekom Malaysia, a major stakeholder.

At the time, Gobind said he was simply doing his job of voicing out consumer complaints.

Irrespective of who was right then, the question is, will he be able to repair fractured relationships in order to carry out his duties effectively?

Of the six deputy ministers, Liew Chin Tong (international trade and industry), M Kulasegaran (law and institutional reform) and Teo Nie Cheng (communications) are better known, while Chan Foong Hin (plantations and commodities) and Wong Kah Woh (education) have been less heard of.

The choice of Lim Hui Ying, as deputy finance minister, however, is baffling. Unknown outside DAP previously, the daughter of Lim Kit Siang and sister of former finance minister Lim Guan Eng rose to prominence when appointed senator in 2018.

A first term parliamentarian for Tanjong, a seat her father held for three terms between 1986 and 1999, Hui Ying was swiftly roped into Cabinet as deputy education minister.

Speaking to the press following her transfer to the finance ministry several days ago, she readily admitted to being in a completely different “landscape” as compared with her role in the education ministry.

Curiously, Hui Ying went on to say she will use the experience gained in the education ministry to carry out her functions as the new deputy finance minister. One wonders how that will work.

In any case, apart from the economics degree she earned in Universiti Malaya, what experience can the public expect her to bring to this key ministry?

At the end of the day, DAP must acknowledge that on top of one additional ministership and one deputy ministership, the Cabinet reshuffle has benefited them in at least two other ways.

Firstly, it has seen Umno nudged out of the finance ministry, with Ahmad Maslan jettisoned to the works ministry as its deputy minister.

On top of that, with Gobind leading the oddly named Ministry of Digital, DAP has also got its foot back in the telecommunications sector, a key driver of the economy going forward.

The downside is that it has come at the expense of his brother Ramkarpal, who despite being an able law and institutional reform deputy minister, has magnanimously stepped aside to make way for him.

That aside, a report on Saturday has suggested there may be one other hidden benefit.

A party source reportedly claimed that Sim – not Sivakumar – was on the original shortlist of ministers submitted by the party following GE 15.

What that suggests is that the party has managed to get its preferred candidates positions in the new Cabinet.

So, does that mean the reshuffle has also strengthened one faction in the party? - FMT

Ibrahim M Ahmad is an FMT reader.

The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT.