ALL ministers in Anwar Ibrahim’s cabinet were picked by their respective party heads to stave off any conflict, said Fahmi Fadzil.

The PKR information chief said this would help avoid the conflicts that arose the last time Pakatan Harapan (PH) helmed Putrajaya.

The Lembah Pantai MP said PH wanted to avoid the mistake of having the prime minister appoint whomever he pleased, as was done by former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

“PH needs to learn from experience that one of its downfalls after 22 months in power was the appointment of ministers, who went against the party’s wishes,” he told PKR organ Suara Keadilan. 

He said in 2018, PKR never nominated Azmin Ali as minister candidate as he was Selangor menteri besar, but his name suddenly came up and he was chosen. 

Fahmi said PKR did not nominate several others either, but Azmin made it possible for them to be appointed to the cabinet. 

He said as subsequent events showed, those ministers turned on PKR and abandoned the party to join Bersatu, resulting in the formation of the Perikatan Nasional government.

The newly minted digital communications minister said the PH leadership has learnt from its past mistakes and does not want to make the same error again. 

Fahmi noted that some of the appointments may not be accepted by the public, but PH had had little choice.

“This is a unity government, not a PH government. Different from a PH government where we have a majority and are given the liberty to decide. 

“The unity government was formed on the advice of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong since not a single party obtained a simple majority to form the government after the general election.

“Faced with a hung parliament, we have to compromise,” he was quoted as saying.

Yesterday, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim unveiled his 28-member unity government cabinet, adding that the list of deputy ministers would be announced soon.

The members of the new cabinet are set to take their oaths of office in front of Yang di-Pertuan Agong Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah in Istana Negara today at 3pm. – December 3, 2022.