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Abdullah Announces Cabinet, Half New Faces
March
18, 2008 (Source: Bernama)
PUTRAJAYA, March 18
(Bernama) -- Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah
Ahmad Badawi today announced his new Cabinet
line-up, dropping seven ministers who won the
recent general election and appointing two
corporate figures as ministers.
He said half of the members of his
administration were new faces.
The new administration line-up was drawn up
based on the "spirit of power-sharing and
camaraderie of the Barisan Nasional (BN)", and
it was capable of implementing the government
agenda more effectively, he said.
Abdullah, who retained the finance portfolio,
named Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak as the Deputy
Prime Minister and Defence Minister.
Tan Sri Nor Mohamed Yakcop, who won the Tasek
Gelugor parliamentary seat in Penang, was
retained as the Second Finance Minister.
The two corporate figures, who will be sworn in
as senators later today, are prominent lawyer
Datuk Zaid Ibrahim and Maybank Chief Executive
Officer Datuk Amirsham A. Aziz, both of whom
will be ministers in the Prime Minister's
Department.
Zaid, a former Member of Parliament for Kota
Baharu, has been entrusted with the
responsibility of restoring the people's
confidence in the judicial system while Amirsham
will head the Economic Planning Unit (EPU).
Three others -- Tan Sri Bernard Dompok, Datuk
Seri Nazri Abdul Aziz and Datuk Dr Ahmad Zahid
Hamidi -- were also appointed ministers in the
Prime Minister's Department.
The seven ministers dropped include Wanita Umno
chief Datuk Seri Rafidah Aziz (who was Minister
of International Trade and Industry); Umno
secretary-general Datuk Seri Radzi Sheikh Ahmad
(Home Affairs); Datuk Seri Azmi Khalid (Natural
Resources and Environment); Datuk Seri Dr
Jamaludin Jarjis (Science, Technology and
Innovation) and Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Mansor
(Tourism).
The two others are MCA president Datuk Seri Ong
Ka Ting (Housing and Local Government), who
asked not to be reappointed so as to concentrate
on rebuilding the MCA following its dismal
performance in the general election, and Datuk
Seri Dr Fong Chan Onn (Human Resources).
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