THERE was nothing wrong with the prime minister naming his cabinet, that is, until the comments from PKR vice-president Rafizi Ramli, said a political analyst.

“Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s decision was taken after considering the seniority of the leaders of the different parties,” said Ilham Centre director Hisomuddin Bakar.

From the point of view of Malaysians, there were no problems until Rafizi’s remarks suggesting that PKR had not been consulted.

Yesterday, Dr Mahathir named PKR president Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail as deputy prime minister, Amanah president Mohamad Sabu as defence minister, Bersatu president Muhyiddin Yassin as home minister and DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng as finance minister.

Hisomuddin said Rafizi’s remarks could disrupt the cabinet appointment process and disappoint Malaysians that wanted it to go smoothly.

“It would have been better if his unhappiness was brought to the Pakatan Harapan council and discussed there first,” said Hisomuddin.

Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia’s Dr Shamsul Amri Baharuddin said he was not surprised by Rafizi’s allegation that his party was not consulted.

“Remember PPSMI? Dr Mahathir decided on that policy without the consensus or collective endorsement. What’s new?

“I think PKR just blindly believed in Dr Mahathir. Rafizi is just too new in politics,” said the Ethnic Studies Department head.

The political scientist said that Dr Mahathir was back to being his old self again. 

“So, we are seeing Barisan Nasional 2.0, not Pakatan Harapan,” said Shamsul Amri.

Meanwhile, International Islamic University Malaysia lecturer Dr Tunku Mohar Tunku Mohd Mokhtar said Dr Mahathir’s decision to name his cabinet quickly made sense.

“He needed to name a cabinet quickly to stabilise the country and seeing that Bersatu had the fewest seats in the coalition, had to balance things by appointing the leaders of the other parties to key positions,” said Tunku Mohar.

“The only surprise may be Lim’s appointment as finance minister since the country had a Malay leader helming the portfolio since BN’s era in 1974. It shows that this is a new way of doing things by the new prime minister.”

Bersatu won 12 federal seats in GE14 followed by PKR (49), DAP (42) and Amanah (10). With an additional two independents joining PKR today, the party now has 51 MPs.

However, the political science lecturer said it was too early to tell if Dr Mahathir was back to his old assertive ways or if Pakatan was just another BN 2.0.

“I’m not aware of the party negotiations behind the scenes but it’s premature to say that he is being dictatorial again. It’s more likely due to the need to reward the party leaders quickly.” – May 13, 2018