GEORGE TOWN, Aug 27 — The only one worthy to be a minister in the Cabinet announced by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob is Khairy Jamaluddin, who is now health minister, said PKR MP Sim Tze Tzin.
The Bayan Baru MP said Khairy is probably the only hope out of all the ministers in the entire Cabinet.
“I genuinely hope he will reform the Health Ministry so that it actually makes the ministry more responsive to Covid-19 especially in terms of the ICU needs and resources,” he said in an immediate response to the new Cabinet list announcement by the prime minister this morning.
He hoped that Khairy would be able to procure the proper resources for his ministry to fight Covid-19 and deploy doctors to the right places that needed it.
In the new Cabinet line-up announced by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob, Khairy switched portfolios with former health minister Datuk Seri Dr Adham Baba.
Adham is now the Science, Technology and Innovation minister.
“Adham had failed miserably as the air suam minister and yet he is again made a minister of a different portfolio,” he said.
Sim said the rest of the Cabinet line-up was a disappointment and labelled it as “old wine in old bottles”.
“Malaysians had high hopes for drastic change, for a lean government with fewer expenses going to the ministers and more spending on the rakyat but he came back with a bloated Cabinet of 70 ministers,” he said.
He said the Cabinet does not inspire confidence among the people and looks more like a political Cabinet for Ismail Sabri's survival.
“This is is like Muhyiddin's bloated Cabinet, trying to please their political allies, I think this Cabinet will fail again, I don't have high hopes,” he said, referring to former prime minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin's Cabinet.
He said this new government under Ismail Sabri is “Perikatan Nasional Government 2.0” as the ministers that had failed in the last 17 months have been reinstated, albeit with minor changes.
He also questioned why Umno's Datuk Seri Azalina Othman was not included in the Cabinet when she was one of the few Umno leaders who had the courage and conviction to speak up and say what is right.
“She had the courage to resign and state a point but what did she get for speaking up? Nothing,” he said.
