By Lian Cheng
KUCHING, Aug 27: A Sarawakian pundit opines that there is an uneven representation in the new Cabinet, with four newly appointed federal ministers from Sarawak being all from Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB), with Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) and Sarawak United Peoples’ Party (SUPP) being left out completely.
Political scientist Prof Dr Jayum Jawan of Universiti Putra Malaysia believes that if an MP from PRS or SUPP each were to be appointed, that would reflect well on Gabungan Parti Sarawak’s (GPS) power sharing concept.
“On Sarawak and GPS note, there appears to be uneven representation as all four federal ministers from Sarawak came from PBB only. It would go a long way to show a power sharing attitude if PRS and SUPP could be given one federal minister’s post each.
“But then again, it appears that PRS and SUPP presidents are happy with the arrangement,” Dr Jayum told DayakDaily.
There are 31 parliamentary seats in Sarawak. GPS consisting of PBB, PRS, SUPP and Progressive Democratic Party (PDP) has 18 MPs (PBB with 13, PRS with 2, PDP with 2 and SUPP with 1).
The rest of the 13 seats are taken up by Democratic Action Party (6), Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (or Bersatu, 2), Parti Keadilan Rakyat (or PKR, 1), Parti Sarawak Bersatu (PSB, 2) and two independent MPs — Julau MP Larry Sng and Lubok Antu MP Jugah Muyang.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob today announced his cabinet where four GPS MPs have been appointed as full ministers and another four as deputy ministers.
There are two more Sarawakian MPs, namely Saratok MP Datuk Ali Biju and Puncak Borneo MP Datuk Willie Mongin who were appointed as deputy ministers, with both being from Malayan based party Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu).
In general, Jayum said the cabinet appointment reflected continuity from the previous Perikatan Nasional (PN) government under former Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin. This can be seen from the fact that of the 31 cabinet members, 26 are old faces who had served in Muhyiddin’s Cabinet prior to the latter’s resignation.
Jayum said except for Idris Ahmad (Vice President) from PAS, all other Cabinet members are “old hands”.
Three UMNO veteran politicians, he observed, had been recruited back, namely Mahdir Khalid, Datuk Seri Shahidan Kassim, Tan Sri Noh Omar while only one was from Bersatu; Bersatu deputy president Datuk Seri Ahmad Faizal Azumu has rejoined the Cabinet.
As Jayum anticipated, the position of Deputy Prime Minister that was initially touted to be given to Sarawak did not materialise as no appointment was made to the position.
Even though no Sarawakian MPs were appointed to the Deputy Prime Minister post, he believed that the appointment of Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusof as Senior Minister along with four others was “close enough”.
Policy wise, Jayum did not expect Ismail Sabri to continue his predecessor’s policies in total, but would sharpen those which the latter thought needed to be reshaped for more effectiveness.
“So Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri will be expected to introduce his own polices as we have witnessed by his use of the term ‘Keluarga Malaysia’. All prime ministers would want to leave something of a legacy, no matter how long their term of office may be,” said Jayum. — DayakDaily
