Out With The Old, In With The Uhh...Old...?

I didn't have time to watch the unveiling of the new cabinet so I had to rely on web news. I'm actually glad that I didn't watch it on TV, otherwise I would've thought that someone was pushing the repeat button. (that's highly unlikely since Najib was giving the speech this time, unless of course I'm very stupid)

But my point is, there's no real change. I'm quite disappointed with the line-up since I was expecting a leaner cabinet (much like most analysts would suggest). This is more like Najib saying, "Well, Paklah's cabinet was too big. The cabinet room leaves no space for me to rest my feet when sitting. If I take out 5 people then there would be space for my feet, and for my deputy as well. Great idea Najib (talking to himself)".

Instead of "change" Najib decided to "exchange". Shabery was too foamy as information minister. Give him youth and sports because foams are acceptable there. Rais' English is too good for an Asian, give him Shabery's so that if there is a debate, people would be awestruck and stop realising that nothing makes any sense (to be fair he is very smart). Also, give Muhyiddin education because, well Najib knows what happens when a deputy PM holds the key Defense position. We don't want to go down that road again now do we?

Okay to be fair to Najib, some of the appointments are spot on. Mustapha as MITI Minister is commendable given his economic prowess. Shabery as youth is better than him as information because he is one of the few Ministers that realised the importance of youth and getting up to date with the IT trend (or something to that effect). Brid. Gen. Jamil is better than Zaid Hamidi as Religious Minister, given that Brid. Gen. Jamil is an Ustaz and Zaid, well he is not.

I can't comment on all the appointments but one that really worries me is Hishamuddin's. Given his background as a hardliner and an ultra-UMNO man, handing him that much power if scary. His tenure as Education Minister didn't really stand out, especially because there were more problems than solutions. Problem with the English-Malay educational conundrum which he never settled, the rise in school bullying, gangsterism, amateur porn involving school kids, etc. I don't remember students having as much problem before this (given that I was a student myself just recently). So this appointment should be interesting. Muhyiddin should revamp education in Malaysia so as not to be so UMNO-oriented (yeah right).

I was also hoping for the higher education to be merged together with education portfolio since they are very closely related anyway (I think on the point of...education perhaps?). Khaled Nordin haven't done much for higher education since his appointment a year ago and I don't see much change happening. I was hoping for a Minister that would champion university students' rights and a Minister that would engage more with students. He has not shown he is able to do those things so I'm very skeptical on this.

The appointment of Tsu Koon and Shahrizat is slightly disturbing because, well for one thing, they didn't even get the support of the people in the GE. Tsu Koon can't even unite UMNO and Gerakan in Penang. Shahrizat, well she didn't do much for the woman and children when the spotlight was not on her. So how can Najib justify those appointments?

Najib said in his speech that the new Ministers should accept their work, do their work well, don't stop doing their work and engage with the people more. Need I remind that "new" Ministers here aren't that many since most of them were the ones Abdullah had picked earlier anyway. And if he wants them to "not stop working", he should take away those thousands in entertainment allowance.

But also good on him for having introduced KPI to gauge performances of the Ministers. But my slight worry would be, the one to monitor this would be Tsu Koon and he is from Gerakan; a small party that holds no significance in government. Easily manipulated in cabinet I would think. On the otherhand, having no interest within other bigger parties makes him interest-free and can exercise his function without fear as well (okay I reserve my thoughts on this one).

Khairy not being appointed is expected. He is young after all and he is just a youth chief (I'm sure the fact that Mahathir and Najib himself doesn't like him does not at all play a part in his non-appointment...ehem). But the appointment of Mukhriz is puzzling. Where did that come from? What credentials does he have? What is his achievements? But you can also ask this question to almost half the cabinet, so fair enough.

All and all. Nothing interesting. Just the same old people doing different work under the pretext of "change".