Choon Mei Wong
At least 35 names submitted as deputy minister candidates PUTRAJAYA: The names of at least 35 people have been submitted as candidates for deputy ministers in Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s administration. Sources said these names were from all the parties and coalitions in the unity government — Pakatan Harapan, Barisan Nasional, Gabungan Parti Sarawak, Gabungan Rakyat Sabah, Parti Warisan — and other parties which are being considered. However, they said it is still unclear if all will be accepted. They said considering Anwar had said he wanted to have a smaller cabinet lineup, and had indeed cut down the number of ministries to 28, it was possible that the prime minister would only pick one deputy minister per ministry. However, this could be different in cases where two ministries had been merged. For instance, the sources said the Natural Resources, Environment and Climate Change Ministry, which was a merging of the previous Energy and Natural Resources and Environment and Water ministries, could get two deputy ministers, one each to manage the two portfolios. The Finance Ministry, too, could get two deputy ministers, though for a different reason. This is as Anwar is both prime minister and finance minister and may […]
