MUSTAPA Mohamed became the latest minister in the defeated Barisan Nasional administration to officially hand over his portfolio to his Pakatan Harapan successor, but possibly the first to warmly the exercise as “a new political culture”.
“We have to mature along the way… to progress in life and in politics in this country. We have to move up” said Mustapa, after handing over the International Trade and Industry portfolio to incoming minister, Darrell Leiking, at Miti headquarters today.
Mustapa declined, however, to comment on why it was rare for his BN colleagues to formally hand over their portfolios to the incoming government.
Since the BN coalition lost power in the May 9 polls, only a few of its former ministers have handed over their duties to the first batch of PH ministers.
They include Dr S Subramaniam, who passed his Health portfolio to Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad, Rohani Karim to Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail (Women, Family and Community Development) and Idris Jusoh to Dr Mazlee Malik (Higher Education).
Today, Khairy Jamaluddin also handed over his Youth and Sports portfolio to Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman. Syed Saddiq was among the second batch of 13 new ministers who were sworn in yesterday.
There were no handover ceremonies in the Prime Minister’s Department and the Finance, Defence, Home Affairs, Human Resources, Housing and Local Government, Transport, and Rural Development and Education Ministries.
Leiking was one of 13 new PH ministers sworn in yesterday. He reported for work at Miti today together with deputy Dr Ong Kian Ming.
Leiking is Penampang MP and Parti Warisan Sabah deputy president while Ong is Bangi MP and assistant political education director for DAP.
Mustapa, whose gentle demeanour has endeared him to both BN and PH, congratulated Leiking and Ong on their appointments.
“I knew them while they were in the opposition and I hope to do a better job than they did as a member of the opposition,” Mustapa said in jest after the handover ceremony.
“I can assure them that as a far as Miti is concerned, they have an excellent team.”
In response, Leiking said he appreciated Mustapa’s openness with him and Ong, adding that it signalled a new culture between members of the out-going and in-coming administrations.
“We want to have a new culture where we can communicate with each other and Tok Pa (Mustapa) has said he is willing to share his thoughts with us on trade.”
Leiking said he would only comment on the new administration’s trade policies and direction after a meeting with Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad tomorrow.
He said tomorrow’s cabinet meeting will also clarify whether his ministry will see the addition of any new agencies or whether existing ones will be moved out.
For now, the ministry will continue to emphasise increasing Malaysia’s trade with the world, he said.
“My top agenda now is to go big on trade and industry.” – July 3, 2018.
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