KUALA LUMPUR, Mar 10 — The Perikatan Nasional (PN) government has no clear direction for the country’s future as it had no manifesto before entering power, necessitating a discussion on the matter in the first Cabinet meeting tomorrow.

Newly-minted Communications and Multimedia Minister Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah said the new Cabinet will meet in the morning with Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, to decide either to take a holistic approach as a government or set their plans in clusters.

“This is a Cabinet that was borne without a manifesto. There’s good and bad to it as one, we’re not tied to anything but two, people are asking what we are planning to do,” Saifuddin said today during an interview with state broadcaster RTM1.

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“The PM will call all the ministers and their deputies tomorrow to have intensive discussion with all party leadership for us to put forth our plans and policies for the future.”

Saifuddin also moved to allay fears that the current government are incapable of handling a weakening economy and a serious worldwide viral outbreak affecting businesses and daily life.

When asked what he felt about the people’s fears on whether or not this new Cabinet can do their jobs he said: “I agree that we can’t be messing about.”

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“However, I also agree with Muhyiddin that the people are fed up with politics. That’s why Muhyiddin was very smart in how he picked his Cabinet. Tengku Zafrul is someone who has handled finances for a bank that has presence not just in Malaysia but in Asia too,” he said, referring to Finance Minister Tengkul Datuk Seri Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz.

“Then we have mufti Dzulkifli Mohamad who is a conservative and progressive man as the religious affairs minister. These are all steps taken to make us a functioning government that can handle matters,” added Saifuddin.

Saifuddin also lauded Muhyiddin’s decision to name four senior ministers rather than a deputy minister.

He also downplayed the size of the Cabinet, which several Pakatan Harapan (PH) MPs have criticised as being “bloated”, saying that the previous PH Cabinet was slimmer to keep a pledge in its manifesto.

“I believe this will be a functioning government and we can all bring our own approach to how we tackle issues hampering the country during our meeting with the PM tomorrow.

“It will be an intensive and long discussion of which we hope will be fruitful. In the end this Cabinet is a reflection of Malaysia and we must move forward with it,” added Saifuddin.