Madani Cabinet Reshuffle (Part 2) — Confidence Rekindled? - Video Dailymotion

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A major cabinet reshuffle has been announced, going well beyond filling four vacant ministerial posts. What changed, what didn’t, and what does the shake-up signal? On this episode of #ConsiderThis Melisa Idris speaks with Aira Azhari, CEO of the think tank, IDEAS Malaysia.

Transcript

00:00Hi, welcome back to Consider This. I'm Melissa Idris. Let's continue our discussion about the

00:14cabinet reshuffle that was announced earlier today. Joining me now on the line is Aira Azhari,

00:20who is the CEO of the Think Tank Ideas Malaysia. Aira, good evening. Thank you for joining me on

00:25the show. So this cabinet reshuffle was initially triggered by the four ministerial vacancies,

00:32but it looks like Prime Minister Anu Ibrahim went much further than just filling the vacant seats.

00:38What do you make of this cabinet reshuffle, Aira? Were there any surprises that stood out to you?

00:47Yeah, hi, Mel. So I feel like I have some mixed feelings. So initially, there was some speculation

00:54that the PM would appoint his daughter, Nurul Izzah, into cabinet. Since she won the deputy

01:02presidentship of PKR, it would not have been unprecedented. That didn't happen. There was

01:10some expectation as well. I can recall that AJ would be given a role, possibly as a deputy minister

01:17through a senatorial appointment. Clearly, there's some excitement about what his future in politics

01:24is, but that also didn't happen. So there are a few standouts, I would say. I think YB Taufik Johari

01:34in the Youth and Sports Ministry, also I think quite unprecedented. He is a vice president of AMK, the youth wing

01:45of PKR, considering that both the president and deputy president of AMK do not have even deputy minister

01:54positions. I think that's quite interesting and unprecedented. I'm also very intrigued by the deputy minister

02:04for religious affairs, Marhamah Rosli, who is a justice for Zara activist. She's one of the pioneers of the movement

02:13in Sabah and is a highly respected activist and religious preacher in Sabah, which I don't know if we've had a deputy

02:24minister, deputy religious minister from Sabah before. I would say Akmal Nasrullah in Rafizi Ramli's

02:32old portfolio, the economy ministry is also interesting. He's a well-known ally of Rafizi and his protege as well.

02:43Some people are interpreting it as maybe the prime minister wanting to, you know, sort of extend an olive

02:50branch, I suppose. But also interesting to see a young person in that portfolio. And I guess the other

02:57standout is YB Adam Adli's move to deputy minister of higher education from youth and sports. Of course,

03:06he is a very well-known student activist back when in his student days. And I'm not surprised if there will be

03:16a lot of demands and a lot of scrutiny on that position, since he's now in that position to make

03:24some kind of difference in the higher education sector. So those are some of the things that stood

03:28out to me. Yeah. Well, they resonate completely with me as well, Aira. But if you were to look at,

03:34broadly speaking, who gains, who loses, if I may use that word, relatively speaking, in terms of this

03:44cabinet lineup. Are there parties that benefited more and parties that had to trade off more?

03:54It's hard to say. I'm not going to pretend that I remember each and every portfolio swap at the

04:02moment. But it seems like from the first glance that most of the positions are swapped. So I don't see

04:09like such a big gain or loss for any particular party. But if you want to look at in terms of

04:18representation, I guess it's good that we have more, we have younger people in cabinet like the

04:24examples of Akmal Nasir and Taufik Johari come to mind. I guess for future politics and you know, politics of young people and the need to have a

04:37a younger generation of leaders in Malaysia. This is positive. But of course, I also realized that

04:47cabinet appointments, ministerial appointments are, you know, the PM also needs to balance a lot of other

04:54factors such as party representation, I think is one of the main factors that he needs to balance. So

05:00having more young people or having more representation of certain groups could just be a consequence of

05:09that and might not actually be the intention. So I think that's the complicated thing about cabinet

05:15appointments in Malaysia. Yeah. So when you look at the ministries that were affected, Aira, do you see

05:22coherent policy logic? I'm just wondering, you know, the ministries that are perceived to be performing versus

05:29those that are perceived to be underperforming. I'm wondering whether the non-moves, the absence of

05:37movement in the cabinet lineup for certain ministries, if that's just as telling as the changes themselves?

05:44Yeah, well, it's not so straightforward, right? So there are some examples of positions such as when

05:53Stephen Sim was minister at Kesuma, I think he was perceived as doing a good job overall. The gig workers' bill

06:01was passed, something that has been pushed for and has been needed in Malaysia for a long time. And he has been

06:09moved to Kuskop, which some say is a more junior portfolio. Also, these things are not set in stone.

06:15It is usually convention or perception rather. And you have like, you know, ministers that have come under

06:20criticism over the last few years, such as education, home ministry, who have been involved in national

06:30level debates about education, about citizenship issues, for example, who have remained in those portfolios. And

06:41there could be many reasons for this, right? Again, we must remember that ministerial appointments are

06:47a political exercise and the PM needs to balance between party interests and within parties as well, appointments

06:54are made based on seniority of positions. So, and you know, ministries like education and home ministry are also

07:00very senior portfolios seem to be given to MPs who are, who have, seem to have a bright future. You know,

07:13ministry of education, for example, were portfolios held by former prime ministers in the past. So,

07:22yeah, so many considerations. And unfortunately, these things are not as straightforward, just because

07:28an individual, a minister is not popular in the eyes of the public, it doesn't mean that his or her

07:33position is automatically in trouble when it comes to a cabinet reshuffle, because these appointments are

07:40the prime minister's discretion.

07:42Right, definitely. There's more nuance to that. So, when you look at this lineup, and we are, you know,

07:49we were in the last leg of the election cycle, essentially the next, we have two years till the end of this

07:56five-year term. When you look at this lineup, Aira, do you think there is, does it inspire confidence in

08:04the public? Do you think there is an opportunity here to rebuild any loss of confidence that the

08:12Madani administration may have had with some of its voting public?

08:15Unfortunately, I don't think so, because as we discussed the critical ministries that are public

08:26facing, such as education, home, I don't know, domestic trade, those ministries are left untouched and

08:38seems like, you know, for whatever reason, the prime minister does not want to sort of shake up that

08:46status quo, probably not a great idea when elections, state elections are coming next year and then the

08:53general election the following year. So, we must remember that, you know, portfolios such as international

09:00trade, foreign affairs are very important for Malaysia but it's usually the domestic facing

09:09ministries that are the ones that will face scrutiny by Malaysians and by voters. So, I don't think that

09:18this represents a big shake up in the status quo and trust in government and in politicians is also

09:27built through the prime minister himself. So, I think there has been a lot of talk in recent months

09:34about the seriousness of this government, of the prime minister in fulfilling reforms and that still

09:41remains to be seen. So, next year there's a lot of speculation on whether, you know, all the important

09:47bills, political financing and all that is going to be tabled in parliament. So, I think with those

09:55promises of reforms being fulfilled, if those are fulfilled, then I think public trust can be regained.

10:02Okay. So, having said all that, Aira, what specific ministries or portfolios

10:09are you watching or should we also be watching out for, watching more closely for after this shake up?

10:16Well, I think the Ministry of Economy, even though, you know, many people say that it's not, it's a

10:24ministry that's not very powerful, I would say that having Akmal Nasir there is an interesting

10:32development and I hope, you know, if he does well, if he proves himself in the next year then I think it's a

10:40good sign for new leadership. Maybe in the future NRES, which is now under Arthur Joseph Kurup, would also be

10:50an interesting ministry to observe because natural resources and environment, climate is obviously such

10:57an important issue that Malaysia needs to tackle head on. And the previous minister, Nick Nazmi, also,

11:07I think, got, you know, a lot of praise from the public and from civil society. So, it'll be interesting to

11:15see how the new minister moves that portfolio. Kasuma, Stephen Sim, previous minister who's now been

11:25moved to Kuskop, having Ramadhan there is also an interesting development. He, of course, won the

11:33vice presidency in PKR in the recent party elections and also he's a former MIC politician and Human Resource

11:43Ministry has traditionally been an MIC portfolio during Barisan National's time. So, I think this is

11:50also an interesting one to observe. Of course, agencies under Kasuma has been under scrutiny as well

11:57before. And of course, Youth and Sports under Taufik Johari, such an important portfolio as well.

12:05And we'll see how all of that goes.

12:08Yeah. Aira, thank you so much for being on the show with me. I appreciate your time.

12:12Aira Azhari there, the CEO of the think tank

12:15Ideas Malaysia, wrapping up this episode of Consider This.

12:18I'm Melissa Idris signing off for the evening. Thank you so much for watching and good night.

12:38I'll see you in the future.

12:40Bye.

12:42Thank you in the first time.

12:46I have a great$6 hold.

12:48I'll see you next time.

12:48I have always hoped.

12:49I hope that it could be understandable.

12:51I'll see you.

12:52I've always liked it.

12:53I'm over here.

12:55Bye.

12:56I have my life.

12:57I know.

12:58Bye.

12:59Bye.

13:00Bye.

13:01Tare.

13:02Bye.

13:02Whoa.

13:03Bye.

13:03буke.

13:03Bye.

13:05Bye.

13:06Bye.

Madani Cabinet Reshuffle (Part 2) — Confidence Rekindled?

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