DR Kelvin Yii described Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob’s cabinet as one that is bloated and recycled, and does not inspire confidence in how the country would move forward in tackling Covid-19.

Apart from a sprinkle of new faces, the cabinet that Ismail announced this morning was largely a carry-over of Muhyiddin Yassin’s cabinet with Ismail retaining four Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) MPs as full ministers and four as deputy ministers.

Reappointed to his portfolio as senior minister and minister of works is Fadillah Yusof, the GPS chief whip in Parliament.

“A second-hand cabinet rather than a cabinet that inspires confidence (for) a radical reset to our approach towards Covid and the economy.

“The rakyat have been let down in the appointment since the cabinet is still bloated,” the Bandar Kuching MP said.

Yii said Ismail should have been focused on maximising resources in fighting Covid-19 and alleviating the hardship faced by the people, not shore up political power.

The other hope of the people that wasn’t fulfilled, Yii said, was their hope that ministers are appointed on merit, and the non-performing ones dropped entirely.

“The new prime minister could have shown that he meant business by dropping under-performing ministers, but he went the safe route.

“A prime minister who plays safe, during an unprecedented time does not inspire confidence that he will make radical changes to our approach toward Covid that have clearly failed before,” Yii added.

Congratulating Khairy Jamaluddin on his appointment as health minister, Yii also harbours hope that Khairy will bring the national immunisation programme with him to the Health Ministry “to reduce bureaucracy and streamline implementation”.

“Health must be in every policy of the government in moving forward.”

Sarawak PKR deputy chairman Abang Zulkifli Abang Engkeh simply described the new cabinet as a “repainted old car” while the party’s information chief Abun Sui Anyit sarcastically said the only change he saw in the cabinet is the post of the prime minister.

On the appointment of Khairy, a non-medical person, to the Health Ministry, Abun said he does not expect much from the ministry in tackling the Covid-19 epidemic. 

Chairman of a Sarawak-based civil society group George Young Si Ricord Jr, said organisations like his have no choice but to support the government of the day even though its “a government of convenience that has no mandate from the people.”

“The government needs to be supported not because we like it politically but because of whatever they could bring to help tackle the Covid-19 and alleviate the suffering of the people due to the impact on the economy.

“That’s how civil societies like mine see the situation right now,” Young of Habitat for Indeigenous and Urban Programme said.

“(For us) the people come first. People are losing their jobs and need money to provide food on the table for their families (and we need a government to tackle the problems).” – August 27, 2021.