Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad is entrusting deputy president of Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) Datuk Seri Azmin Ali with wide powers over the economy, the latest move that could stoke rivalries within parties of the ruling Pakatan Harapan coalition and allow him to gain the upper hand over premier-in-waiting Anwar Ibrahim.
Sources told The Straits Times that Azmin, as Minister of Economic Affairs, will oversee Malaysia's biggest companies, including state oil giant Petronas, sovereign wealth fund Khazanah and savings manager Perbadanan Nasional Berhad, which are collectively worth more than RM1tril.
Crucial agencies that guard the welfare of the Malay-Muslim majority such as the Federal Land Development Authority, pilgrimage fund Tabung Haji and a swathe of units and departments that help Malay entrepreneurs will also be placed under the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MEA).
"The scope is so wide that earlier plans to place International Trade and Industry under MEA will likely be ditched," said a source familiar with the restructuring.
This move to empower Azmin is the latest to trigger alarm bells among supporters of Datuk Seri Anwar, the de facto leader of PKR and the man waiting to take over from Dr Mahathir in two years' time under the Pakatan coalition's agreed transition plan.
Azmin and his lieutenant - Housing and Local Government Minister Zuraida Kamaruddin - are part of a rival faction within PKR, facing off against Anwar and his wife, Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, the only other member of the Cabinet from PKR.
Granting the MEA portfolio to Azmin is a huge gesture by Dr Mahathir, as the transfer of Petronas, Khazanah and over 60 other companies - before taking into account subsidiaries - now under the Minister of Finance Inc will be complex, possibly requiring legal amendments that need to be approved in Parliament.
