How Twitterverse is reacting to PM Anwar Ibrahim’s new cabinet
Meet the ministers
Just over a week after assuming the role of Malaysia’s 10th Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has finally announced his cabinet lineup today (2 December 2022). As promised, it is a leaner Cabinet than that of his predecessor, Ismail Sabri Yaakob, with only 28 members.
The premier has appointed himself as the Finance Minister, with Barisan Nasional’s (BN) Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and Gabungan Parti Sarawak’s (GPS) Fadillah Yusof serving as his deputies. This marks the first time Malaysia has two deputy prime ministers.
The political composition of the Cabinet is made up of Pakatan Harapan (15 seats) through PKR, DAP, Amanah and Upko; Barisan Nasional (six) through Umno; Gabungan Parti Sarawak (five) through PBB, PRS, and PDP; and Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (one) through Sabah Bersatu.
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Five women have been appointed as ministers—the same number as the Pakatan Harapan Cabinet of 2018. Four out of the 28 ministers are not MPs and must be appointed as senators before they can assume office. They are Tengku Zafrul Aziz, Saifuddin Nasution, Zambri Abd Kadir and Na’im Mokhtar.
The ministers will be sworn in on Saturday at 3pm. In a televised address, PM Anwar said: “After swearing in tomorrow, I will hold a special meeting with the ministers so that some rules, directions, new methods can be introduced in order to speed up the efforts in carrying out their duties.”
See the full list of cabinet ministers below and keep scrolling to find out how netizens are reacting to the news.
Prime Minister and Finance Minister: Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim
Deputy Prime Minister and Rural and Regional Development Minister: Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi
Deputy Prime Minister and Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister: Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusof
Transport Minister: Anthony Loke
Agriculture and Food Security Minister: Mohamad Sabu
International Trade and Industry Minister: Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz
Local Government Development Minister: Nga Kor Ming
Health Minister: Dr Zaliha Mustafa
Defence Minister: Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan
Higher Education Minister: Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin
Education Minister: Fadhlina Sidek
Economic Affairs Minister: Rafizi Ramli
Communications and Digital Minister: Fahmi Fadzil
Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Law and Institutional Reform): Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said
Science and Technology Minister: Chang Lih Kang
Home Minister: Saifuddin Nasution Ismail
Women, Family and Community Development Minister: Datuk Seri Nancy Shukri
Domestic Trade and Cost of Living Minister: Datuk Seri Salahuddin Ayub
Works Minister: Datuk Seri Alexander Nanta Linggi
Environment and Climate Change Minister: Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad
Entrepreneur Development and Cooperatives Minister: Ewon Benedick
Foreign Minister: Datuk Seri Zambry Abdul Kadir
Tourism Minister: Datuk Seri Tiong King Sing
National Unity Minister: Datuk Aaron Ago Dagang
Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Religious Affairs): Datuk Dr Na’im Mokhtar
Youth and Sports Minister: Hannah Yeoh
Minister in Prime Minister’s Department (Sabah Sarawak Affairs): Datuk Armizan Mohd Ali
Human Resources Minister: V. Sivakumar
There you have it—all 28 ministers of the unity government led by PM Anwar Ibrahim. As expected, Malaysians had mixed reactions and we’ve picked out some of the best ones we’ve spotted on Twitter:
This cabinet pic.twitter.com/8rCGj2rrFk
— Abah (@chairman_GLC) December 2, 2022
My review of the new Cabinet is the same for most of my comedy shows :Seems okay. Could’ve been worse.
— Dr Jason Leong 🇲🇾 (@DrJasonLeong) December 2, 2022
Women’s representation in Anwar’s cabinet:Highest ever ratio (18.5%), BUT still below 20%.Historically, Malaysia has never had more than 5 women ministers:Anwar, 2022: 5/27 (18.5%)Ismail Sabri, 2021: 5/31 (16.1%)Muhyiddin, 2020: 5/32 (15.6%)Mahathir, 2018: 5/29 (17.2%)
— Yu Ren-Chung (@renchung) December 2, 2022
ikea cabinet is better than this lah.
— Aminah Farid (@aminahfarid_) December 2, 2022
A boring, stable cabinet is better than a brilliant cabinet that lasts 10 months.This is a unity govt. Neither a PH nor a BN govt; even though the former has more seats. Both pacts have to find a common ground to steer Msia forward. Their supporters have to manage expectations.
— Faizal Hamssin (@faizalhamssin) December 2, 2022
Zahid Hamidi should not be in this cabinet. He shouldn’t even be near the almari!
— ArfSbhn (@ArfSbhn) November 30, 2022
YES-only 17.9% WOMEN & 5 Ministers in new 🇲🇾 cabinet.BUT- YB @AzalinaOthmanS is 1st Female Law MinisterYB @FadhlinaSiddiq 1st female Education Minister YB @Zaliha_DrZ 1st female Health Minister YB @hannahyeoh 1st minority female Youth & Sports Minister ✊#GE15Malaysia
— Tehmina Kaoosji (@TehminaKaoosji) December 2, 2022
Syed Saddiq waiting his name to be called for Menteri in Cabinet announcement : pic.twitter.com/6aEHhJrrW2
— Malaysia Memilih (@Mr_Perawan) December 2, 2022
— Syed Saddiq (@SyedSaddiq) December 2, 2022
Win:1. Women leading health and education portfolio (big budget ministries).2. More representation from Sabah and Sarawak.3. Smaller CabinetLose:1. ‘Court cluster’ as DPM.2. PM holds Finance position.3. No enough women, Indian and other minority groups representation.
— Numan Afifi (@NumanAfifi) December 2, 2022
My only cabinet take: if you dowan croutons in your salad, next time need to make sure you don’t buy any croutons, only salad
— Melati 👩🏾🏫🚲🌺🧮📈🐈📚✏️ (@melatinungsari) December 2, 2022
I’ll sit down with some data on the new and past Cabinets later, but one main takeaway surely has to be:Never believe anything you get on WhatsApp. Ever.Time to go call out friends who sent so-called leaks that were about 20% accurate 🤣
— Thevesh (@Thevesh) December 2, 2022
Read more news in Malaysia here.
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