HINDRAF chairman P. Waytha Moorthy and DAP’s Liew Chin Tong are among eight people who will take their oath as senators tomorrow, fuelling speculation that both will be appointed to the cabinet.

Dewan Negara said in a statement that apart from them, the others who are being appointed to the senate by the federal government are Amanah’s Raja Kamarul Bahrin, Bersatu’s Radzi Jidin, Marzuki Yahya and Ismail Ibrahim.

The  Kelantan and Terengganu state assemblies have also nominated PAS’ Husain Awang and television personality Asmak Husin respectively.

They will be sworn in at the Senate at 2pm tomorrow.

Waytha Moorthy could not be reached but Liew said he would talk about his senate appointment tomorrow after he had taken the oath.

Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad had said earlier this month that the remaining vacancies in the cabinet would be filled by senators and that positions for ministers could go up to 29.

Currently there are 27 ministers and 23 deputy ministers.

Of the eight senators, only six are eligible to join the government as they are from Pakatan Harapan while the other two are from PAS-controlled states, effectively ruling them out from any positions.

Currently, the position of Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department in charge of national unity and social wellbeing is vacant.

Four deputy minister positions at the Defence Ministry, the Economic Affairs Ministry, the Housing and Local Government Ministry and the Foreign Ministry are vacant. – July 16, 2018.