KUALA LUMPUR - Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim will unveil his Cabinet line-up on Friday, amid pressure from the civil service to get the government running again after nearly two months of caretakership.
Datuk Seri Anwar will make the announcement on Friday, state news agency Bernama reported. The new Cabinet is then expected to be sworn in on Saturday.
The Straits Times had earlier learnt that Mr Anwar was in two minds about crucial picks such as finance minister and whether to install Umno president Zahid Hamidi – who is facing dozens of graft charges – as deputy premier. But the need to ensure key ministries are up and running meant the new Premier has to hand the palace a list of names before the King leaves the country late on Saturday.
“Secretaries-general of several ministries have implored the PM to install ministers as soon as possible because key initiatives are stuck without a minister’s signature,” a government official told ST.
Mr Anwar went to the palace on Friday morning to see Sultan Abdullah Ahmad Shah and left at 9.15am. The Prime Minister headed to Perak next and met the state’s ruler, Sultan Nazrin Azlan Shah, before a series of public engagements near his parliamentary constituency of Tambun.
His Cabinet announcement in administrative capital Putrajaya, originally expected at 5pm, is now scheduled to be made at 8.15pm.
Sources have confirmed that a swearing-in ceremony has been pencilled in for Saturday, although it is not known whether it will be a full Cabinet of at least 25 ministers, or a partial list of key members.
“If it happens on Saturday, it could be the whole Cabinet,” a top official from Mr Anwar’s Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition told ST.
Multiple sources said Mr Anwar had asked for more time on Tuesday during an audience with the King, due to conflicting demands both within and outside his unity government of strange bedfellows.
The ruling alliance he presides over comprises three major political coalitions, PH being the largest, to resolve a hung Parliament after Malaysia’s Nov 19 general election.
This presents challenges of appeasing disparate forces where “the situation is now fluid because so many different factions are lobbying”, according to a top official from the Premier’s party.
Mr Anwar said in a video posted on Facebook on Thursday: “We must expedite resolving problems with all component parties because we need to quickly form a Cabinet to be assented by the King. So we can make the announcement – if possible – within two, three days. God willing.”
The government machinery has been stuck in caretakership mode for nearly two months since Parliament was dissolved on Oct 10, meaning that major undertakings cannot proceed until new ministers are appointed.
A key conundrum for Mr Anwar is whether to make Zahid his deputy, even though the chief of Umno-led Barisan Nasional is facing multiple graft charges. Zahid’s trial has been postponed and is due to be completed only in mid-2023.
PH has long campaigned on a platform of integrity and cleaning up a government many believe is riddled by corruption.
Handing Zahid a senior role in government would court controversy not just among the wider public and PH supporters still sceptical of partnering BN, but also within Mr Anwar’s party, Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR).
Several PKR MPs, including vice-president Nik Nazmi Ahmad, have expressed the need for the Cabinet to be “whiter than white”.
But it is a gamble that would go a long way towards ensuring BN and its 30 lawmakers’ crucial backing of the Premier for the rest of his term.
Umno will have to hold leadership polls by May, and the deputy premiership would help Zahid – who has faced intense backlash internally over his years-long push to ally with PH – see off any challengers.
A leadership change in Umno could see its support for Mr Anwar wavering, and the opposition pact Perikatan Nasional is waiting in the wings to capitalise on any cracks in the government.
