New Malaysian Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob unveiled the lineup of his Cabinet on Friday that largely sees the return of familiar faces from the previous administration as he opted for stability given the slim parliamentary majority he secured in attaining the top job.
Taking a leaf from his predecessor Muhyiddin Yassin, Ismail Sabri did away with the deputy prime minister's post and instead retained the four senior minister positions with each in charge of economy, security, education and infrastructure.
Foreign Minister Hishammuddin Hussein was named new defense minister while retaining his senior minister portfolio. Communications and Multimedia Minister Saifuddin Abdullah becomes new foreign minister.
Finance Minister Zafrul Abdul Aziz and Home Minister Hamzah Zainuddin have been retained. Mohamed Azmin Ali remains international trade and industry minister with the position of senior minister.
Khairy Jamaluddin, who as science, technology and innovation minister had led the country's coronavirus vaccination drive in the previous administration, was named new health minister.
The new Cabinet will be launched on Monday.
The lineup reflects the delicate balancing act the new prime minister must perform to keep his government afloat amid bickering within the ruling coalition, especially between his own party, the United Malays National Organization, and Bersatu, a junior party headed by Muhyiddin.
"I acknowledge that we are currently in a critical situation as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the economic crisis that is made worse by the country's political instability," Ismail Sabri said in announcing the lineup on TV.
"I will ensure the Cabinet lineup is committed to realizing the national agenda via cross-party cooperation in order to spur economic recovery in the interest of the people's well-being."
Ismail Sabri, who was sworn in as the country's ninth prime minister on Saturday, draws on support from 114 lawmakers in the 222-member House of Representatives.
And while UMNO is the largest bloc in his ruling coalition, it has merely 38 lower house members in the grouping that binds over 10 parties together.
Ismail Sabri was appointed as new prime minister by the country's king after 15 UMNO lawmakers withdrew their support for Muhyiddin, causing him to lose majority support in the lower house and announce his resignation.
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