Anwar taking over soon, no need for cabinet reshuffle now

LETTER | Prime Minister Dr Mahathir had recently stated that he is planning to reshuffle his cabinet. This was after the heavy defeat of Pakatan Harapan in the Tanjung Piai by-election.

While it is true that some ministries and ministers under the Harapan government are performing terribly poor and the dissatisfaction of the people was conveyed through protest votes in the by-election, however, there is no need at this point of time to reshuffle the cabinet.

This is especially true when the prime minister has repeatedly affirmed that he will hand over power to Anwar Ibrahim soon. With the transition of power coming up soon, the new prime minister will surely choose a new team to be on board with him.

We cannot afford a reshuffle now or another reshuffle in probably one year's time. This will create a lot of problems in the various ministries and government departments as each minister would want to bring about changes in the ministry. The short time frame involved in changing ministers will cause a lot of confusion, uncertainty, waste of resources and public funds within the ministries.

Suppose the new incoming minister under Mahathir wants to change schools shoes back to white and another new minister a year later under Anwar Ibrahim changes the school shoe colour to orange, what would happen? This would not be good for our country.

Therefore the right thing for Mahathir to do now is to keep his cabinet intact and focus on the transition plan as what was agreed.

To be fair, despite all the criticism against Harapan and the U-turn episodes, I think Mahathir has done his part and the best for this "new Malaysia". Without him, we would not be where we are today. Since the last general election, many reforms have also begun to take place under his leadership. Many are also in the process of taking place. 

These are things that are not visible as of yet but will bear fruit in time. On the other hand, we must also be reminded that he is no longer young. It is unfair to expect so much from a 94-year-old senior citizen.

There is a need for a new captain to take over the ship and this needs to happen soon. Only a new captain can bring in new energy, skills and direction. This is what Malaysia needs at this point of time. Changing ministers now will only add to the problems.

Therefore I urge Mahathir not to reshuffle his cabinet now but to instead start planning for the transition of power. With this, we hope that a new journey will begin for Malaysia.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.