Cabinet formation depends on approach taken by each leader

PETALING JAYA: Prime Ministers of the past three governments took different approaches in forming their Cabinets, which resulted in varying timelines before the entire line-up was made visible.

When Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad was sworn in as the seventh Prime Minister on May 10, 2018, he announced his Cabinet in stages, with the first line-up of three senior ministers named on May 12.

Another list of nine ministers was announced eight days after his swearing in, while the entire line-up was only made clear several weeks later.

Dr Mahathir’s full list was expanded by 13 ministries, with 13 ministers and 23 deputy ministers beginning their tenures on July 2, 2018.

Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin was officially sworn in as the eighth Prime Minister on March 1, 2020.

He announced his full Cabinet line-up on March 9, eight days later.

Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob was sworn in as the ninth Prime Minister on Aug 21 last year, and announced his full Cabinet on Aug 27, nearly a week later.

Dr Mahathir’s Cabinet consisted of 28 ministers, while both Muhyiddin and Ismail Sabri’s line-up had 32 ministers each.