LIM Guan Eng was named finance minister today because Dr Mahathir Mohamad and other Pakatan Harapan leaders refuse to be held hostage to the old ways of doing things in Malaysia.

Malaysia Decides understands that the PKR leadership had suggested that Rafizi Ramli be given the finance portfolio, which had been held by Malay politicians for the past 44 years.

But the view held by Dr Mahathir and other PH leaders is that the new government should not be constrained by the Barisan Nasional architecture of the cabinet.

For example, portfolios should not be reserved for a particular race. Under the BN government, the transport minister was usually from MCA, and the health minister from MIC.

It is understood that the PKR leadership did not agree with this position. The party formed after the sacking of Anwar Ibrahim in 1998 also felt that as the big winner in the 14th general election, its representative should have been given the finance portfolio. PKR is also disappointed that the home minister’s post was not given to its candidate.

This disagreement would explain why no senior PKR leaders were present at the press conference today, where Dr Mahathir announced the appointment of three ministers.

The original plan was to fill up 10 senior cabinet positions. In addition to Lim, Muhyiddin Yassin and Mohamad Sabu were given the home and defence portfolios, respectively.

There is no suggestion that this disagreement is going to fracture the PH alliance, but it is clear that Dr Mahathir has his work cut out in trying to manage the expectations of PKR.

This task is likely to be more challenging when Anwar is pardoned and freed from prison in the next few days.

The new Malaysia is going to be messy. And on some days, Malaysians are going to fret and get annoyed with the sniping and posturing of these diverse politicians, who were united by one aim: to defeat Najib Razak.

In the days and months ahead, there will be more serious disagreements as politicians from Bersatu, Amanah, DAP and PKR come to terms with the fact that it cannot be business as usual in the new Malaysia.

Malaysians expect real changes to how the country is governed.

Dr Mahathir seems to understand this fact. – May 12, 2018.