new cabinet: rafidah out! khairy not in!

news flash! new cabinet announced! report from malaysiakini:

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PM unveils trimmed-down cabinet
Mar 18, 08 10:46am

breaking news Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi today announced his new cabinet.

During a 20-minute press conference at his office in Putrajaya, Abdullah said he has decided not to appoint any parliamentary secretaries – bringing the number of appointments to 68.

He has also dropped many notable veterans and roped in new faces, who now make up half of the cabinet.

Those axed are veteran leaders Rafidah Aziz, Jamaluddin Jarjis, Azmi Khalid and Radzi Sheikh Ahmad, who is known to be close to the prime minister.

Abdullah would not comment on the departure of Rafidah. "I don’t discuss why. I think she should make way for someone new," he said when quizzed on this.

The premier has dropped his portfolio of internal security and outgoing foreign minister Syed Hamid Albar will run a newly merged home affairs and internal security ministry.

Abdullah retained his finance portfolio and Nor Mohamed Yakcop will continue to serve as second finance minister.

Ministries slashed

The number of ministries have also been slashed from 32 to 27. Among the interesting new faces are Zaid Ibrahim, who has been appointed minister in the Prime Minister’s Department in charge of legal affairs and Shahrir Samad who is appointed domestic trade and consumer affairs minister.

According to Abdullah, Zaid will be put in charge of  legal affairs and oversee reforms in the judiciary. 

Abdullah’s previous cabinet had a whopping 32 ministers, 39 deputy ministers and 20 parliamentary secretaries, with jobs handed out to many of the 14 race-based parties that make up the Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition.

Only 17 of the 32 ministers in the previous cabinet have been retained – with five keeping their old posts while 12 moved to new profolios.

Among them are Dr Rais Yatim, who has been named foreign minister and Ong Tee Keat (transport minister).

Other interesting new faces are Muhammad Muhd Taib (rural development minister) and Sarawak Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud’s son Sulaiman, who has been appointed deputy tourism minister.

Khairy not in the line-up

Umno Youth deputy chief Khairy Jamaluddin was not named in the cabinet line up announced by his father-in-law.

Prior to the elections, it was speculated that Khairy – the 32-year-old Oxford graduate – will be given an important post.

However, the March 8 polls reversed his fortunes. Many blamed the young politician for BN’s disastrous performance.

Since then, pressure had mounted on the prime minister not to include his son-in-law in the line-up.

MIC loses works ministry

MIC failed to retain its control over the works ministry and party’s secretary-general Dr S Subramaniam has been appointed human resources minister.

The previous works minister was MIC president S Samy Vellu. The party suffered heavy losses in the March 8 polls, losing six out of nine parliamentary seats and 12 out of 19 state seats.

MIC information chief M Saravanan has been appointed deputy federal territories minister while central working committee (CWC) member S Devamany is deputy natural resources and mining minister.

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i’m very happy to note that rafidah is out. about time!! but how come there’s no mention of her replacement? thank god the PM’s son-in-law is not in! everyone, including those in UMNO will revolt if he is in, methink.  ohh…. why wasn’t that stupid stupid stupid minister, the big mouth nazri dropped?? aiyo! susah lah ini.  this means we’ll get to see more circus happening in parliament with him around.

i’m disappointed though to see that he had chosen muhammad muhd taib  as the rural development minister. isn’t this double muhammad  guy the same one who run away with  a sultan’s daughter and who was involved in some corruption case or what… something undeclared cash in australia? why picked him in the cabinet?

ok for easy reference, here is the list of the new cabinet line-up:

Prime Minister:Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi
Deputy Prime Minister: Datuk Seri Mohd Najib Abdul Razak

Ministers in the Prime Minister’s Department:
Minister: Tan Sri Bernard Giluk Dompok
Minister: Datuk Ahmad Zahid Hamidi
Minister: Datuk Mohd Zaid Ibrahim
Minister: Datuk Amirsham Aziz
Minister: Datuk Seri Nazri Abdul Aziz

Deputy Ministers Ministers in the Prime Minister’s Department:
Deputy Minister: Datuk Johari Baharum
Deputy Minister: Datuk Dr Mashitah Ibrahim
Deputy Minister: S.K. Devamany
Deputy Minister: Datuk Hasan Malek

Ministry of Agriculture & Agro-Based Industry
Minister: Datuk Mustapa Mohamed
Deputy: Datuk Rohani Abdul Karim

Ministry of Unity, Arts & Culture
Minister: Datuk Mohd Shafie Apdal
Deputy: Teng Boon Seng

Ministry of Defence
Minister: Datuk Seri Mohd Najib Abdul Razak
Deputy: Datuk Wira Abu Seman Yusop

Ministry of Domestic Trade & Consumer Affairs
Minister: Datuk Shahrir Abdul Samad
Deputy: Jelaing Mersat

Ministry of Education
Minister: Datuk Hishammuddin Bin Tun Hussein
Deputy: Datuk Wee Ka Siong
Deputy: Datuk Razali Ibrahim

Ministry of Energy, Water & Communications
Minister: Datuk Shaziman Abu Mansor
Deputy: Datuk Joseph Salang Gandum

Ministry of Entrepreneur & Co-operative Development
Minister: Datuk Noh Omar
Deputy: Saifuddin Abdullah

Ministry of Federal Territories
Minister: Datuk Zulhasnan Rafique
Deputy: Datuk M. Saravanan

Ministry of Finance
Minister: Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi
Minister: Tan Sri Nor Mohamed Yakcop
Deputy: Datuk Ahmad Husni Hanadzlah
Deputy: Datuk Kong Cho Ha

Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Minister: Datuk Seri Rais Yatim
Deputy: Datuk Joseph Salang Gandum

Ministry of Health
Minister: Datuk Liow Tiong Lai
Deputy: Datuk Dr Abdul Latiff Ahmad

Ministry of Higher Education
Minister: Datuk Khaled Nordin
Deputy: Hoo Kok Choon
Deputy: Datuk Idris Harun

Ministry Housing & Local Government
Minister: Datuk Ong Ka Chuan
Deputy: Datuk Robert Lau
Deputy: Datuk Hamzah Zainuddin

Ministry of Human Resources
Minister: Datuk S. Subramaniam
Deputy: Datuk Noraini Ahmad

Ministry of Information
Minister: Datuk Ahmad Shabery Cheek
Deputy: Datuk Tan Lian Hoe

Ministry of Internal Security and Home Affairs
Minister: Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Syed Jaafar Albar
Deputy: Datuk Chor Chee Heung
Deputy: Senator Wan Ahmad Farid Wan Salleh

Ministry of International Trade & Industry
Minister: Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin
Deputy: Lee We Keong
Deputy: Datuk Jacob Dungau Sagan

Ministry of Natural Resources & Environment
Minister: Datuk Douglas Uggah Embas
Deputy: Datuk Abdul Ghapur Salleh

Ministry of Plantation Industries & Commodities
Minister: Datuk Peter Chin Fah Kui
Deputy: A. Kohilan Pillay

Ministry of Rural & Regional Development
Minister: Tan Sri Muhammad Mohd Taib
Deputy: Tan Sri Joseph Kurup
Deputy: Joseph Entulu

Ministry of Science, Technology & Innovations
Minister: Datuk Dr Maximus Ongkili
Deputy: Datuk Fadhilah Yusuf

Ministry of Tourism
Minister: Datuk Azalina Othman Said
Deputy: Datuk Seri Sulaiman Abdul Rahman Taib

Ministry of Transport
Minister: Datuk Ong Tee Keat
Deputy: Datuk Anifah Aman

Ministry of Women, Family & Community Development
Minister: Datuk Dr Ng Yen Yen
Deputy: Senator Noriah Kasnon

Ministry of Works
Minister: Datuk Ir Mohd Zain Mohamad
Deputy: Datuk Yong Khoon Seng

Ministry of Youth & Sports
Minister: Ismail Sabri Yaakob
Deputy: Wee Jeck Seng