Now they have been assembled once again under a new leadership and it is left to be seen whether this new grouping will deliver on the prime minister’

Najib’s new Cabinet — P. Ramakrishnan

APRIL 9 — There have been speculations that the new cabinet would be smaller than the previous one. Well it’s smaller in the sense there are 28 ministers now as compared to the previous 32. But it is bigger in another sense. There is an increase in the deputy ministers in that there are now 40 as compared to 38 in the previous administration. Will the new line-up make all that difference to the lives of the Malaysians is left to be seen? Najib names 28-member Cabinet (Update 4) PUTRAJAYA: Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak unveiled his new Cabinet on Thursday, downsizing it from 30 to 28 ministers and abolishing two ministries in the process. Najib was at Istana Terengganu in Kuala Lumpur at about 10:57am where he had a 30min audience with the Yang Di-Pertuan Agong Tuanku Mizan, before leaving for Putrajaya where he announced the new line-up at 3pm. The premier had spent the last five days juggling names and positions to take into consideration the requests and views of various Barisan Nasional component parties. The new ministers and deputy ministers will take their oath of office at Istana Negara at 9.30am Friday. NEW CABINET LINE-UP: Prime Minister and Finance Minister 1 Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak Deputy PM and Education Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin Ministers in Prime Minister’s Department Unity Dr Koh Tsu Koon Law and Parliament Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Aziz Religious Affairs Brig. Gen. (Rtd) Datuk Jamil Khir Baharum Economic Planning Unit Tan Sri Nor Mohamed Yakcop Finance Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak Deputies: Datuk Chor Chee Heung, Datuk Dr Awang Adek Hussein Education Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin Deputies: Datuk Wee Ka Seong, Datuk Puad Zarkashi Transport Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat Deputies: Datuk Abdul Rahim Bakri, Datuk Robert Lau Home Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein Deputy:: Datuk Wira Abu Seman Yusop Information, Unity, Culture and Arts Datuk Seri Dr Rais Yatim Deputies: Datuk Joseph Salang Gandum, Heng Sai Kee Energy, Green Tech & Water Datuk Peter Chin Fah Kui Deputy: Noriah Kasnon Plantation Industries and Commodoties Tan Sri Bernard Dompok Deputy: Datuk Hamzah Zainuddin Rural and Regional Development  Datuk Shafie Apdal Deputies: Datuk Hassan Malek, Datuk Joseph Entulu Higher Education Datuk Seri Khaled Nordin Deputies: Dr Hou Kok Chung, Saifuddin Abdullah International Trade and Industry Datuk Mustapa Mohamed Deputies: Datuk Muhkriz Mahathir, Datuk Jacob Dungau Science, Tech and Innovation Datuk Dr Maximus Ongkili Deputy: Fadillah Yusof Natural Resources and Environment Datuk Douglas Unggah Embas Deputy: Tan Sri Joseph Kurup Tourism Datuk Seri Dr Ng Yen Yen Deputy: Datuk Seri Sulaiman Abdul Rahman Abdul Taib Agriculture and Agro-based industries Datuk Noh Omar Deputies: Johari Baharum, Rohani Abdul Karim Defence Datuk Ahmad Zahid Hamidi Deputy: Datuk Dr Abdul Latif Works Datuk Shaziman Abu Mansor Deputy: Datuk Yong Khoon Seng Health Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai Deputy: Datuk Rosnah Rashid Shilin Youth and Sport Datuk Ahmad Shabery Cheek Deputies: Datuk Razali Ibrahim, Wee Jeck Sing Human Resource Datuk Dr S. Subramaniam Deputy: Datuk Maznah Mazlan Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Deputy: Datuk Tan Lian Hoe Housing and Local Government Datuk Kong Cho Ha Deputy: Lajim Ukin Women, Family and Community Development Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil Deputy: Datin Paduka Chew Mei Fun Foreign Affairs Datuk Anifah Aman Deputies: Lee Chee Hong, A. Kohilan Federal Territory Datuk Raja Nong Chik Zainal Abidin Deputy: M. Saravanan

Words have been uttered on numerous occasions promising change and performance. But each time these words proved to be hollow and disappointing when what was promised was not delivered. The majority of ministers are from the previous cabinet and they were part of a government that had failed to deliver and fulfil the expectations of the public at large. That was why they paid the price in the last elections on March 8. Now they have been assembled once again under a new leadership and it is left to be seen whether this new grouping will deliver on the prime minister’s promises. We will wait and see. P. Ramakrishnan is president of Aliran.