WHAT a newly appointed prime minister does in his first 24 hours in office is a good indication of his leadership skills especially during a.state of crisis.

Courtesy visits to political leaders are expected but the management of our country during a pandemic must be prioritised. Our PM failed to respond urgently to the problem, unlike Muhyiddin Yassin in his final moments in office as he struggled to hold on to power via a frenzy of late-night meetings. The magic number of “112”  votes carried more importance than the 32.7 million people in this country.

The presentation of a cabinet of ministers that appears to have had more of a facelift than a performance upgrade makes you wonder if the pool of talent was scarce or if Ismail was half asleep when we were crying out for competent ministers as second half substitutes.

The re-appointed and re-designated ministers under Ismail have never showed contrition for their dubious statements and behaviour, including consistently breaching public health orders to prevent the spread of Covid-19, during Muhyiddin’s time. What guarantee do we have now that our education system is in good hands with Radzi Jidin, who is concerned about how he parts his hair than he is about establishing a firm policy direction. What may be more worrying than a variant of concern is Adham Baba swapping duties with with Khairy Jamaluddin?

I believe most of us are not naïve enough to think that making Ismail the 9th PM was not a quid pro quo affair. We just find the entitled behaviour of some of the ministers on social media, even before they were sworn in, repulsive.

It is now our duty to do what we are known for internationally when it comes to bullying. Be vocal against wrongdoings in any medium available and be the Big Brother in this Keluarga Malaysia until the next general election.

A writer once said to me, “The sound of a sneeze or a cough makes a short horror story, but the words uttered by a PN minister provides dark comedy.” As we celebrate our 64th year of independence, even tragedies provide a beautiful story seeing how we have come together as a “rakyat” during the pandemic. – August 28, 2021.

* Aidi Amin of Bangsa Malaysia reads The Malaysian Insight.

* This is the opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insight. Article may be edited for brevity and clarity.