BARISAN Nasional chairman Ahmad Zahid Hamidi is named as one of two deputy prime ministers in Anwar Ibrahim’s cabinet announced today.

The other DPM is Gabungan Parti Sarawak’s Fadillah Yusof, said Anwar in his live announcement of his line-up.

Anwar said he will take up the position of finance Minister.

In a surprise move, the prime minister reappointed Tengku Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz who lost in his quest to win the Kuala Selangor parliamentary seat, as the international trade and industry minister.

He also appointed PKR secretary-general Saifuddin Nasution Ismail, who failed to defend the Kulim Bandar Baharu parliamentary seat as home minister.

BN secretary general Zambry Abd Kadir, who lost in the fight to win the Lumut parliamentary seat, has been appointed the foreign minister

They will have to be made senators to take up their positions.

He said Zahid will also be the Rural and Regional Development Minister while Fadillah Yusof, the Plantation and Commodity Minister.

DAP secretary-general and Seremban MP Anthony Loke returns as the transport minister while Amanah president and Kota Raja MP Mohamad Sabu will be in charge of the Agriculture and Food Security Ministry.

PKR deputy president Rafizi Ramli will be the minister in charge of the economy.

However, Anwar did not announce a federal territories minister, raising questions if the portfolio had been scrapped.

He also announced that deputy ministers will be named at a later date. 

Anwar, who is Pakatan Harapan (PH) chairman, said the unity government cabinet was dominated by PH, which has the most number of MPs, followed by BN and GPS.  

“These coalitions have reached an agreement not only to form the cabinet but also set several key governance policies which are good and have given priority to driving economic growth and easing the people’s burden in terms of cost of living,” he added.

Anwar said this agreement had enabled the government to expand the coalition to include Sabah-based parties like Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) and Warisan, boosting the strength of the unity government to a two-thirds majority in Parliament.

“This mandate has given us the confidence to form a more solid cabinet which will work as a team and focus on driving vibrant economic growth, apart from giving greater attention to the people’s problems,” he said.

The new ministers are scheduled to be sworn in at Istana Negara tomorrow. – December 2, 2022.