SARAWAK Chief Minister Abang Johari Openg has finally tweaked the Cabinet he inherited from the late Adenan Satem,  appointing a third deputy chief minister, elevating two assistant ministers to full ministers, and introducing two new faces.

Second Minister of Resource Planning and Environment Awang Tengah Ali Hassan is now the third deputy chief minister in charge of the industrial and entrepreneurial development ministry.

Housing Assistant Minister Abdul Karim Hamzah will take over the tourism, arts, culture and sports ministry formerly headed by Abang Johari, and Industrial Development Assistant Minister Talip Zulipilip is now minister in the Chief Minister’s Office.

Talip has also been given the position of ombudsman.

The two new faces in the Cabinet are Balai Ringin assemblyman Snowdan Lawan of Parti Rakyat Sarawak, who has been made the assistant youth and sports minister, and chief political secretary to the Chief Minister Abdullah Saidol, who is now assistant minister in the Chief Minister’s office in charge of corporate affairs.

“I don’t know what I’m supposed to do there,” was Abdullah’s reaction to his promotion.

“I was approached by the chief minister this morning and told about the appointment. It’s all still a shock to me,” he told reporters.

Abang Johari made the announcement late this afternoon at the end of the Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB) special gathering to honour past presidents Abdul Taib Mahmud and Adenan Satem and past deputy president Alfred Jabu, at the Borneo Convention Centre.

The ministers and assistant ministers were mainly retained with a few moved to new and renamed ministries.

The chief minister gave himself the “additional portfolios” of energy development, oil and gas, digital economy and telecommunications, and Kuching urban public transport.

By putting himself in charge of the state’s energy development and oil and gas,  Abang Johari is signalling that he will also take charge in talks on oil royalties with Putrajaya, while the diigital economy and Kuching urban public transport are his new pet projects.

He is still the minister of finance and economic planning and the newly formed urban development and resources.

Two more significant changes the chief minister has made are putting Second Finance Minister Wong Soon Koh in charge of the new ministry of international trade and e-commerce without relinquishing his second finance minister’s post, and switching Youth and Sports Minister Michael Manyin to head the education, science, and technological research ministry.

Abang Johari said the changes were in support of his  new initiatives to improve the state’s rural development and digital economy and increase the pace of infrastructural development.

The two new ministers and two new assistant ministers will take their oath of office tomorrow afternoon. – May 6, 2017.