Najib Sworn-in As Prime Minister

Thursday, 9 April 2009

Najib Sworn-in As Prime Minister

Najib Announces 28-member Cabinet

KUALA LUMPUR, April 9 (Bernama) -- Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak today announced a 28-member cabinet in 25 ministries which saw eight ministers dropped and seven new faces appointed.

Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, who won the Umno deputy presidency in last month's party elections, is appointed Deputy Prime Minister and Education Minister.

Najib, who took his oath of office as the new prime minister on April 3, also retained the finance portfolio which he has held since Sept 19 last year following the portfolio swap between him and Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi at that time.

Najib's cabinet is slightly smaller than his predecessor's 32 ministers and 27 ministries.

Najib said that the new members of the administration were highly spirited and ready to serve.

"I am confident that all of them share the same commitment to spur the nation towards excellence.

"This is our line-up and our team which reflects Malaysia's plural society," he said when announcing the cabinet list at the Prime Minister's Department, which was carried live on national television.

The new cabinet also a reflection of the slogan "One Malaysia. People First. Performance Now" adopted by Najib's administration.

The eight dropped are Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar (Home), Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said (Tourism), Senator Tan Sri Muhammad Muhammad Taib (Rural and Regional Development), Senator Datuk Amirsham A Aziz (Prime Minister's Department), Datuk Ong Ka Chuan (Housing and Local Government), Datuk Mohd Zin Mohamed (Works), Datuk Seri Zulhasnan Rafique (Federal Territories) and Datuk Shahrir Abdul Samad (Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs) who had resigned.

The new faces includes Gerakan president Tan Sri Dr Koh Tsu Koon who is appointed Minister in the Prime Minister's Department in charge of Unity and Performance Management.

Malaysian Armed Forces' Religious Corp Director Maj-Gen Datuk Jamil Khir Baharom is also among the new faces, appointed Minister in the Prime Minister's Department in charge of Islamic Religious Affairs.

Other new faces are Datuk Ahmad Husni Mohamad Hanadzlah who was appointed Second Finance Minister, Umno Wanita chief Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil (Women, Family and Community Development), Datuk Anifah Aman (Foreign) and Lembah Pantai Umno division chief Datuk Raja Nong Chik Raja Zainal Abidin (Federal Territories).

MCA vice-president Datuk Kong Cho Ha who was previously the Deputy Finance Minister was promoted to a full ministership in charge of Housing and Local Government.

Of the seven new faces, four were made senators to pave the way for their cabinet appointments, namely Dr Koh, Jamil Khir, Shahrizat and Raja Nong Chik, all of whom were sworn in as members of the Dewan Negara this afternoon.

Seven ministers retained their respective portfolios namely Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz (Prime Minister's Department), Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat (Transport), Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin (Higher Education), Datuk Dr Maximus Ongkili (Science, Technology and Innovation), Datuk Douglas Unggah Embas (Natural Resources and Environment), Datuk Liow Tiong Lai (Health) and Datuk Dr S. Subramaniam (Human Resources).