Critics to new PM: “You blew your chance to inspire the rakyat!”

Critics to new PM: “You blew your chance to inspire the rakyat!”



SEVERAL politicians have taken to social media to share their thoughts about the new Cabinet members, which was announced by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob in a live telecast on Friday (Aug 27).

Former deputy minister of women, family and community development Hannah Yeoh took to Twitter to share her thoughts and expressed her disappointment that Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said was not included in the latest line-up.


“Children will have no reliable spokesperson. How can Azalina be excluded?” she tweeted.

“[Datuk Seri] Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar is definitely a better choice,” she opined.



In a follow-up tweet, she reckoned that the new Cabinet was just the same old composition of #KerajaanGagal, with the same politicians rotating offices in Putrajaya.

“Ismail Sabri’s Cabinet is nothing more inspiring than Muhyiddin’s Cabinet!”



Former deputy education minister Teo Nie Ching similarly expressed her surprise that Azalina was not part of the Cabinet.

“I hope something more important is waiting for her, i.e. Speaker of the House,” she said.

Bandar Kuching MP Dr Kelvin Yii further pointed out that the rakyat has been let down in the appointments, especially since the Cabinet is still bloated.

“We should have been focusing resources on fighting COVID-19 and the people, not shoring up political power.”



He added that another unfulfilled hope is that the Ministers be appointed by merit, while non-performing ministers could have been dropped entirely from Cabinet.

Meanwhile, in a series of tweets, Subang MP Wong Chen thought that the Cabinet was still very bloated with the reduction of one minister from 32 to 31, and that the only good news is that the health minister had been replaced.

He also tweeted: “The new Prime Minister had basically played [it] safe and missed this golden opportunity to do something to inspire the public and the rakyat. This new (but old) Cabinet is not going to satisfy the public’s demand for meaningful changes.”

Marina Mahathir also shared similar sentiments.

“Goodness me, what an unimaginative Cabinet, @IsmailSabri60! Here was your chance to do better and you blew it. Kept all the worst non-performers. Well good luck! #KerajaanGagal,” she tweeted.

According to Ismail Sabri, the new Cabinet will be sworn in next Monday (Aug 30).

The Cabinet’s main tasks, he said, is to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic and heal the country’s economy.

According to the prime minister, each newly-minted Cabinet member must prove their performance within the first 100 days in office. – Aug 27, 2021.