PKR S’wak chief: Give room for new Cabinet line-up to perform

MIRI (Dec 14): The new federal Cabinet should be given the opportunity and space to deliver par excellence service for the country, said PKR Sarawak leadership council chairman Roland Engan.

He was reacting to the Cabinet reshuffle announced by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim on Tuesday affecting 10 portfolios as well as the splitting up of two ministries.

This was the first Cabinet reshuffle after Anwar led the federal government a year ago.

Pakatan Harapan (PH) Sarawak secretary Alan Ling had earlier said grassroots supporters were disappointed that none of its MPs were appointed as minister or deputy minister in the Cabinet reshuffle but accepted that this is the prerogative of the Prime Minister and a political reality under the unity government framework.

Anwar rung in the changes to his Cabinet by naming Employees Provident Fund (EPF) chief executive officer Datuk Seri Amir Hamzah Azizan as Finance Minister II, and bringing back three individuals to the Cabinet; namely Datuk Seri Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad as the Health Minister, Datuk Seri Johari Abdul Ghani as the Plantation and Commodities Minister and Gobind Singh Deo as the Digital Minister.

Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusuf remains as Deputy Prime Minister but now takes over the portfolio of Energy Transition and Public Utilities, at the same time still overseeing Sabah and Sarawak matters while the other Cabinet posts allocated for Sarawak remained mostly unchanged.

“We in PKR Sarawak hope that Sarawak will soon be empowered equitably to be comparable to the progress of Peninsular Malaysia with good governance,” Roland said.

Nevertheless, he added, PKR Sarawak will work to ensure that the 2024 budget will be translated into development projects that focus on the economic empowerment of the people, especially the marginalised groups in both urban and rural Sarawak.

Roland believes that the Prime Minister has given much thought to this cabinet reshuffle, taking into account many factors, especially the current challenges in the fields of digital, information, environment, climate change, the rights of Sabah and Sarawak, education, health and food security which are increasingly challenging.

“The PM had succeeded in stabilising the country’s politics and can now breathe a sigh of relief to focus on the main issues that have a direct impact on the people and the country’s competitiveness at the international level,” he said.