PRIME Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob’s cabinet line-up failed to yield any advantages to Bersatu, political analysts said.

They told The Malaysian Insight that Bersatu, as the leader of the Perikatan Nasional coalition, should have been given the post of the deputy prime minister

With a member in the prime minister’s office, Umno party has now replaced Bersatu as the cornerstone of the ruling pact.

Ismail’s cabinet has 11 Umno ministers and 10 deputies, compared to Muhyiddin Yassin’s cabinet with 10 ministers and 13 deputies from the party.

Under the Muhyiddin administration, Bersatu had 11 ministers and 15 deputies while Umno had nine and eight, respectively.

Prof Dr Awang Azman Awang Pawi at Universiti Malaya said Ismail had wisely assigned some important portfolios to Umno members.

He said this was clear in the appointment of Annuar Musa to communications and multimedia minister.

“Umno is trying to regain control of the narrative by giving Annuar the communications post. It has also taken the Rural Development Ministry. These two ministries are important for a party like Umno.

This was because the party needed to reach out to the grassroots and win over rural voters, he said.

He said Bersatu must accept the fact that it was no longer in control.

“This is part and parcel of politics. They cannot hope for Umno to give them room to succeed,” he added.

Ilham Centre executive director Hisommudin Bakar said Ismail could have named a deputy prime minister from Bersatu.

“As the head of PN, it should have been given the DPM post.

“Ismail Sabri wanted to retain the old cabinet but in reality, the people wanted to see changes, they were hoping to see some progressive changes,” said Hisommudin.

He added that Ismail had tried to appease all parties that had supported him to become the PM.

“There is nothing much he can do, other than reducing the size of the cabinet. The pattern is not much different,” he said.

Umno vice president Ismail yesterday announced his cabinet of 30 ministers yesterday, keeping the system of having four senior ministers and doing away with the deputy prime minister’s post, which he had held under Muhyiddin.

International Trade and Industry Minister Mohamed Azmin Ali, Defence Minister Hishammuddin Hussein, Works Minister Fadillah Yusof and Education Minister Mohd Radzi Jidin are the senior cabinet members from the previous administration who have kept their jobs.

Ismail also retained almost all the faces from Muhyiddin’s cabinet, swapping some of their portfolios and introducing few new names

The new line-up was criticised by many for being “old wine in a new bottle”.

Observers said the line-up showed Ismail had limited influence in the government.

They added they were not surprised by the Bera MP’s cabinet, which they branded Perikatan Nasional 2.0.

Meanwhile, veteran political analyst Sayuti Omar said Umno had taken the upper hand with the line-up.

He said that Bersatu did not gain nor lose anything from Ismail’s line-up.

“Nothing changed, it is status quo. Bersatu didn’t get the DPM post but even if it did, it wouldn’t change anything.

“Umno has the upper hand. However, it is also not too much. If you look at the line-up you see that Ismail Sabri, too, has limited choices,” he said. – August 28, 2021.