FROM all accounts, Anwar Ibrahim’s first cabinet was as difficult to pick as his journey to be prime minister of Malaysia. Both bear testimony to his acumen and persistence in working out a means to an end.

Naming Umno president and Barisan Nasional chairman Ahmad Zahid Hamidi as a deputy prime minister and rural development minister was a no-brainer. 

Without Zahid, Anwar would not be prime minister. With Zahid as minister for rural development there is an opportunity to win back the rural vote from the “Green Wave” that shredded Umno in the November 19 general elections.

Ditto for Amanah president Mohamad Sabu as agriculture minister. Both these portfolios are critical for Pakatan Harapan and BN to reach out to rural voters in upcoming state elections and the next general election.

That is a long-term play if Anwar’s government is to last the full five years of their royally-guided alliance after the general election returned a hung parliament. 

But Zahid is a lightning rod for criticism with 47 more charges to face in court. Two others facing charges – DAP’s Lim Guan Eng and Muda’s Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman – are not in the Anwar cabinet which could mollify critics.

And who knows, if BN will eventually be dissolved with Umno joining PH. After all, BN"s MCA and MIC with three MPs between them did not get a place in the Anwar cabinet.

Any of those three or others from DAP could have taken up posts without the need for Anwar to nominate four senators in the Dewan Negara to fill as many ministerial slots.

It is understandable why Anwar made Saifuddin Nasution Ismail a senator. He lost the Kulim-Bandar Baharu federal seat but is an Anwar loyalist trusted to be a powerful home minister. It makes sense for PKR to hold that strategic ministry that is responsible for internal security, immigration and prisons.

Or even BN secretary-general Zambry Abdul Kadir – who supported Anwar in his Umno days – as the foreign minister or even Chief Syariah Court Judge Mohd Naim Mokhtar as religious affairs minister as those require some experience and aptitude.

Yet, what makes Umno’s Tengku Zafrul Tengku Aziz so special? He lost in the polls, he was a senior member of the last two governments, one that allegedly spent billions under the cover of the emergency.

Did he stand out in both underwhelming governments before the GE? Given his senior position in the economic management of the country, does his selection mean that there will be no accounting of funds spent during the emergency?

Can Anwar rationalise placing an electoral loser in his Cabinet while the winner of the closely-fought Kuala Selangor seat that is part of his original 82-seat tally gets nothing? Ditto for Zambry actually although his coalition post does count for something. 

Dzulkefly Ahmad is an articulate and intelligent MP who stayed on for the GE to ensure PH had its numbers. But he gets nothing while the loser gets to be a senator and minister again?

Perhaps it would have been best to return Tengku Zafrul to the corporate sector where he excelled in the past as a banker.

Of course, BN needs to be accommodated but it does have other MPs, apart from the MCA-MIC trio. How about Johari Ghani, former second finance minister? Wouldn’t he make a better choice as trade minister?

Or even as tourism minister in place of Gabungan Parti Sarawak’s Tiong King Sing who was formerly a special envoy in the past two governments. 

His credit is being the first to pull out of the Muhyiddin government that led to its eventual collapse in 2021. His other credit is leading a group of BN MPs to Taiwan in September 2008 to prevent Anwar from forming the government because he then “had the numbers”.

Malaysia needs a compact and hard-working cabinet, as Anwar has promised. But he needs to explain his choices and set out their mandates and targets or his government could go the way of others and not last its full term.

Malaysians have high hopes for the 148 duly elected MPs that form the Anwar government. Don’t break their trust and hopes. –  December 3, 2022.

* Jahabar Sadiq runs The Malaysian Insight.