WILL Dr Mahathir Mohamad be putting new faces in the upcoming cabinet reshuffle as rumoured by many political pundits?

If he will, the visage of the new government would be different as old faces in the current cabinet line-up to be either shifted to other portfolios or completely erased from the team.

If I were the Prime Minister, I would promote any current deputy minister, who has been identified to be greatly fit or applauded by political colleagues within the coalition, to be a full minister.

If the Prime Minister would do the same, it visibly means that there are existing cabinet members who are no longer hopeful to be a part of the "New Malaysia" administration.

To me, the planned cabinet reshuffle is a signal silently decoded by the Prime Minister to every underperformed minister that being in the government is all about working for the betterment not reversal.

Obviously, most people have been pushing the government to mend the severe economy.

Unemployment has been one of the hot topics chatted everywhere by the public, and yet, there was a fall-from-the-sky proposal of increasing the current retirement age to 65.

As long as no new additional portfolios to be inserted in the cabinet reshuffle, the act will be pleasantly welcomed with a hope that the "transferred ministers" will be doing better or even greater than their predecessors.

New portfolios means adding money into the government spending as newly-appointed ministers need to be salaried unless if they are willing to give a free-of-charge service for the sake of rebuilding the beloved nation.

Political dramas that have been screened everyday won't be monetising people's economic unhappiness.

People are now very tired of being regularly served with political conflicts between "theatrical leaders" that do not even add a figure to their monthly salary.

Reshuffling cabinet must be impactful to the reinvigoration of the government.

It must be made useful to the reformation progress of the national politics.

Like buying a new car, if it still has the same old features and engine performance as the current one, what is the point of getting it?


* Amerul Azry Abdul Aziz is an independent writer who now views politics as something that can be researched.

** The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the position of Astro AWANI.