With the remaining members of the cabinet set to be sworn in soon, a Sarawak DAP leader has called for at least two ministers and three deputies to be appointed from parliamentarians hailing from the Borneo state.
Serian DAP chairperson Edward Andrew Luwak said this would be in line with the promise made by Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Pakatan Haparan in the general election manifesto.
This comes after a list of possible appointees began circulating online yesterday, which indicated that Sarawak lawmakers would only be accorded one ministerial role and one deputy minister role.
"The 'viralised' list of ministers and deputy ministers to be appointed shows that Sarawak will only have one minister and a deputy minister. Sabah, which won lesser seats, more so by a so-called 'friendly' non-component Harapan member, is given a better deal with three ministers.
"The fourth pillar (of the Haparan manifesto) promises to 'Return Sabah and Sarawak to the status accorded in the Malaysian Agreement 1963'," Edward said in a statement today.
Elaborating further, he said Sarawak contributed 10 seats to Harapan's overall success in the 14th general election - with DAP winning six seats and PKR, four.
"That was inflated to 12 (seats) after the two successful independent candidates jumped to PKR.
"That swing of support has to be recognised and Sarawak rewarded.
"Ideally, Sarawak should be considered two ministers and three deputies," Edward said.
As such, he added, potentially only being accorded one ministerial post was considered a mockery by Sarawakians, especially with Sarawak being the biggest state in the country.
Too big for just a minister and a deputy minister "to travel its length and breadth", he said.
In the list which went viral yesterday, state PKR chief Baru Bian and state DAP chief Chong Chieng Jen were the sole Sarawak lawmakers listed, as works minister and deputy domestic trade and consumer affairs minister respectively.
However, a government source cast doubt on the accuracy of the list, stating that it did not appear to be the final list.
Meanwhile, the palace has stated that Yang di-Pertuan Agong Sultan Muhammad V has consented to the list of remaining ministers and deputy ministers given to him, and that they will be sworn in on July 2.
Currently, only 13 ministers have been appointed by Mahathir and sworn in, after which the prime minister stated that he would leave it up to the ministers to appoint their deputies, or not. The 13 ministers to date are:
Muhyiddin Yassin (Bersatu) - Home
Lim Guan Eng (DAP) – Finance
Mohamad Sabu (Amanah) - Defence
Anthony Loke (DAP) – Transport
M Kulasegaran (DAP) – Human Resources
Mazlee Malik (Bersatu) – Education
Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail (PKR) – Women, Family and Community Development. Wan Azizah is also the deputy prime minister.
Mohamed Azmin Ali (PKR) – Economic Affairs
Zuraida Kamaruddin (PKR) – Housing and Local Government
Salahuddin Ayub (Amanah) – Agriculture and Agro-based Industries
Rina Harun (Bersatu) – Rural Development
Dzulkefly Ahmad (Amanah) – Health
Gobind Singh (DAP) – Communications and Multimedia
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