Ismail’s Cabinet: Who’s out and who’s in

At least six ministers and deputy ministers have been dropped in the latest Cabinet line-up announced by Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob today.

The four ministers who were dropped represent one each from Bersatu, Umno and PAS, the three largest ruling Malay parties, as well as a non-politician.

They are former mufti Zulkifli Mohamad Al-Bakri, Bersatu’s Redzuan Yusof, PAS’ Khairuddin Aman Razali and Umno’s Shamsul Anuar Nasarah, the latter of whom quit the Cabinet even before the resignation of Muhyiddin Yassin which caused a power vacuum earlier this month.

Deputy ministers Abd Rahim Bakri from Bersatu and Che Abdullah Mat Nawi from PAS were not reappointed to the Cabinet either.

The Cabinet list, although largely seen as a mirror of the previous line-up with the exception of several former ministers who were reassigned to different jobs, also saw five new additions who were not part of Muhyiddin’s administration.

One of them, PAS’ Idris Ahmad, is making his debut as a federal minister. This is also true to some extent about former Perak menteri besar Ahmad Faizal Azumu, who was appointed as a special adviser with ministerial status shortly before Muhyiddin’s resignation.

The three others – Mahdzir Khalid, Noh Omar and Shahidan Kassim – had served as ministers under the previous Barisan Nasional government.

Meanwhile, five politicians were brought in as deputy ministers.

They are Yamani Hafez Musa (second deputy finance minister), Mohamad Alamin (second deputy education minister), Ti Lian Ker (deputy youth and sports minister), Nik Muhammad Zawawi Salleh (second deputy agriculture minister) and Jalaluddin Alias (deputy federal territories minister).