By RINTOS MAIL rintos@thestar.com.my
KUCHING: Chief Minister Tan Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud has announced his full Cabinet line-up, keeping all the existing ministers in their respective portfolios in a concerted effort to improve and accelerate service delivery in the state.
All the existing assistant ministers are not affected in the reshuffle as they have also been retained in their respective portfolios.
The reshuffle yesterday, done five months after the state Barisan Nasional was returned to power, saw seven new assistant ministers appointed to fill up posts made vacant after the state election in April.
Announcing the changes, which come into effect tomorrow, in his office at Wisma Bapa Malaysia yesterday, Taib said he had also decided to promote three ministers, namely PRS president Tan Sri Dr James Masing, SPDP president Tan Sri William Mawan and SUPP deputy secretary general Datuk Sri Wong Soon Koh to the rank of Senior Minister.
However, in as far as their respective ministries are concer- ned, Masing is still designated as Land Development Minister; Mawan, because his ministry has been renamed, is Social Develop- ment Minister, while Wong is Second Finance Minister as well as Local Government and Com- munity Development Minister, another ministry which has been renamed.
Taib said the role of the Senior Ministers was to cordinate and supervise the changes set to take place in the various ministries.
He said he had decided to keep all the experienced ministers in their respective portfolios because he wanted them to continue supervising the machinery of the government under their ministries as well as the new assistant ministers.
“I have got ministers with at least 10 years’ experience who know in and out about the needs of the people on the ground.
“This line-up is going to herald a new form of government that trusts its base to the participation of the people on the ground,” he said.
Taib also created one new mi- nistry, Welfare, Women and Family Development, with Datin Fatimah Abdullah designated as its minister.
The seven new assisant ministers are Robert Lawson Chuat Vincent Entering (Welfare), Rosey Yunus (Early Childhood and Family Development), Julaihi Narawi (Investment and Promotion; Rural Development), Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah (Youth Development; Housing), Liwan Lagang (Culture and Heritage), Datuk Len Talif (Environment; Promotion of Technical School) and Dr Jerip Susil (Public Health).
Taib, who is state Barisan Nasional chairman, said the full Cabinet line-up reflected the desire of the government to get closer to the people on the ground through its fundamental machinery.
He said he had studied the functioning of the current administration in order to ascertain what worked and what needed to be changed or strengthened.
“I have taken a long and hard look at some of the departments with a view to strengthening some of them. I took the occurence of this reshuffle as a time for us to look at what we can do for the people,” he said.
He noted that the reshuffle was very much related to the reorga- nisation of three fundamental departments, that is the Public Works, Agriculture and Local Government.
Taib said this reshuffle was also to prepare the transfer of power from his government to the next generation.
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