ANWAR Ibrahim will need an effective crop of cabinet members, including professionals, to solve the economic and high cost of living issues plaguing the country, Dr Mahathir Mohamad said. 

The former prime minister said the PKR president could resolve the country’s problems by choosing capable people. 

“I hope the new government uses external expertise to tackle the high cost of living and unemployment,” he said. 

“When I say experts, it must be those who are not loyal to the government but who deal with facts and how to resolve issues.

“But, if he wants to get the loyalty of all parties, then he will have a diverse cabinet because of party affiliations. 

“He may want to solve the rakyat problems but he may get strong reactions (on cabinet appointments) from parties in the coalition,” he told The Malaysian Insight. 

The former Langkawi MP desires that political stability be restored by Anwar’s government and hopes the people find relief from their troubles.

The Anwar-led coalition Pakatan Harapan (PH) could not muster a majority to form a government on its own and had to work with rivals Barisan Nasional (BN) and Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) to form a unity government. 

Anwar is set to name his cabinet by the end of this week.

Under former prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin’s administration, there were 32 ministers and 38 deputies, while former prime minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob had a cabinet of 31 ministers with 38 deputies. 

They were both forced to create supersized cabinets to ensure support for them could be maintained. 

On unity government 

Dr Mahathir said that when they (PH) won in GE14 it was as a coalition that was formed before the election but the current (Anwar’s) coalition was formed after the election. 

“So, it’s a marriage of convenience. They need to work together, if not they can’t form the government, so they have to compromise,” he said. 

“Normally, such a government will not last long. We don’t know, we have to see.” 

On why the unity government could be short-lived, Dr Mahathir said this could happen because of too many requests to fulfil from all the parties. 

“Each one (party) will be pulling in their own direction. They will want this and that. These are the parties that supported him. 

“So, Anwar has to dole out (give in). But, sometimes he can’t.” 

PH won 82 seats in GE15 which was not enough to form a simple majority. Anwar then had to combine with BN who had won 30 seats to from a unity government with the support of GPS who won 23 seats, giving the unity government 135 seats in parliament. – December 2, 2022.