Kit Siang: A cabinet chock-full of senators
Malaysiakini | Jun 1, 10 7:59pm

Pakatan Rakyat leaders slammed Prime Minister Najib Razak for “setting the dubious record” of leading a cabinet with the most unelected representatives.

DAP supremo Lim Kit Siang challenged the Najib to compel the new senators-turned-deputy ministers to stand for elections to prove their level of support.

“Ask these new senators to stand for election so that they have the mandate of the people,” he told reporters after the Pakatan Rakyat supreme council meeting in Petaling Jaya today.

“We will have more by-elections and it will be good for the people, as in Sibu where the (federal government) poured tens of millions of ringgit and the PM visited twice in 10 days,” he said tongue-in-cheek.

He added that the ‘mini-cabinet reshuffle’ is turning the cabinet into the Dewan Negara, oft-criticised as irrelevant, and supports calls for parliamentary reforms.

Lim also took a potshot at Palanivel, stating that he “was not fit to stand as a candidate in Hulu Selangor” but apparently fit to be part of the cabinet.

11 senators-turned-deputy ministers

Four new senators – MIC deputy president G Palanivel, PPP senior vice-president Maglin D’Cruz, MCA vice-presidents Donald Lim and Gan Ping Shou – were appointed deputy ministers today.

Previously, Najib’s cabinet consisted of three senators – Koh Tsu Koon (Prime Minister’s Department), Jamil Khir Baharom (Prime Minister’s Department) and Raja Nong Chik Zainal Abidin (Federal Territories minister).

Senators-turned-deputy ministers includes – Mashitah Ibrahim (Prime Minister’s Department), T Murugiah (Prime Minister’s Department), Awang Adek Hussin (Finance), Abu Seman Yusop (Home), Heng Seai Kie (Women, Family and Community Development), Maznah Mazlan (Health), A Kohilan Pilay (Foreign Affairs).

With this, it is roughly a quarter of the deputy ministers posts are held by non-elected representatives.

In an immediate reaction, Rembau MP and Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin ‘retweeted’ a post by an unknown individual, describing the new cabinet line up as “solid”.

This was met by a retort from Petaling Jaya Utara MP Tony Pua who said: “Not without you!”

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Pakatan mocks Najib’s Senate-powered appointments
By Clara Chooi | The Malaysian Insider | June 01, 2010

KUALA LUMPUR, June 1 — Pakatan Rakyat (PR) leaders today poked fun at Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s Cabinet tweaks, pointing out that the increasing number of senators only proved that Barisan Nasional (BN) lacked qualified elected representatives for the posts.

DAP adviser Lim Kit Siang said Najib was now leading a government with “the most number of senators” and had failed to stick to his “people first, performance now” pledge with the mini-reshuffle.

“I am concerned with these appointments, that even more senators have been appointed,” the Ipoh Timur MP told reporters after attending a PR secretariat meeting at the PKR headquarters here.

He listed out the senators who were named as deputy ministers to assist the Cabinet ministers — PPP vice-president Datuk Maglin Dennis D’Cruz (Information, Communications and Culture), MCA vice-president Datuk Donald Lim (Finance), MCA vice-president Gan Ping Sieu (Youth and Sports) and MIC deputy president Datuk G. Palanivel (Plantation Industries and Commodities).

“This is a government with the biggest number of senators — a government of senators, not of elected representatives in the Parliament,” he declared.

Lim said the appointments served as an “indictment” to Najib’s premiership and accused the prime minister of being “regressive and reactionary” instead of “progressive and reformist”.

PR had earlier urged Najib to hold a series of by-elections to allow his newly appointed senators to contest for a spot in Parliament in order to better justify their posts in government.

“Yes, I would agree to that. It appears that by Najib’s measurement, there are no qualified representatives from Umno or the MIC to sit in the government which is why he chose these others.

“Better to have by-elections so that these appointees can contest… it would bring us plenty of benefit,” jibed PKR de facto leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, when agreeing with Lim.

Lim, who proposed the idea, said the by-elections would help Najib remove the “deadwood” representatives in the BN who Najib had felt were “unfit” to become ministers or deputy ministers.

“And then you can see him (Najib) pouring billions of ringgit in the constituencies like in the Sibu by-election and he would even visit at least three times during the 10 days (campaign period),” he said.

PAS secretary-general Datuk Mustafa Ali concurred with his PR partners, saying that the bloated Senate mirrored that the people had no confidence in the BN.

“Those appointed were not chosen by the people as representatives,” he said.

Lim also said the reshuffle showed that the BN leadership had failed to take stock of the message from the political tsunami of Election 2008.

“This reshuffle is not seen as a plus for MCA or BN or even Najib. It does not show that they have learned from the message from the 2008 elections that the people want change,” he added.