Several Umno leaders dissatisfied over Cabinet line-up

PETALING JAYA: Several Umno leaders have criticised Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin's new Cabinet line-up.

Pengerang MP Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said, in a tweet on Thursday (March 12), said Muhyiddin's Cabinet has unfair party representation.

"In honouring the spirit of a coalition partnership, don't we (Umno) deserve a fairer deal?"

She said that the Prime Minister and two senior ministers are from Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia despite having only 28% of the total MPs in Perikatan Nasional, while Umno – which has 35% of the MPs – has only one senior minister.

In an earlier tweet on Wednesday (March 11), Azalina said that the coalition government should be based on proportionate representation and not dominated by any one party.

She said to make it more legitimate, there must be a written agreement between the political parties involved.

"Umno should have been given more significant ministries such as the Women and Family Ministry, the Home Ministry, Finance Ministry, Agriculture and Food Industry Ministry, and Rural Development Ministry," she added.

Meanwhile, Johor Baru Umno chief Tan Sri Shahrir Samad claimed the current Cabinet line-up does not represent the en bloc spirit of Perikatan, which comprises Barisan Nasional, Bersatu and PAS.

Shahrir said it was the Perikatan en bloc spirit that supported Muhyiddin as premier until he was appointed by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong.

However, he said when the time came to appoint Cabinet ministers,"it is as though the en bloc spirit disappeared".

"The portfolio that was held by them (ministers) weren't negotiated and it is as though it was left to the discretion of the Prime Minister who was appointed based on the support of Barisan and PAS.

"Whatever my concerns are, this new government is still very new. It's better if we wait and see. The new government is Muhyiddin's government," he said in a Facebook post on Wednesday.

Shahrir said if Sabah Umno chief Datuk Seri Bung Moktar Radin was not appointed as a minister due to ongoing court cases, then Datuk Mohamad Alamin, who won the Kimanis by-election, should have qualified as a deputy minister.

On Wednesday, Bung also lamented that Sabah Umno was not represented in the Cabinet.

The latest Cabinet line-up has 31 ministers, comprising 11 from Bersatu, nine from Umno as well as one each from MIC and MCA.