KUALA LUMPUR: The Federation of Chinese Associations Malaysia (Huazong) has welcomed the formation of a slimmer federal cabinet and the appointment of a Deputy Prime Minister from Sarawak, under the ‘unity government’ led by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
Its President, Tan Sri T.C Goh also welcomed and congratulated the appointment of the five Chinese elected representatives to the cabinet.
He said this was in line with the Prime Minister’s favourite mantra of “we are family” (when referring to Malaysians of various races), besides reflecting well on the sincerity of the ‘unity government’ in promoting unity and harmony among Malaysians of different races.
He also hoped the Prime Minister could adopt the same move when appointing the deputy ministers, after this, especially to appoint Chinese deputy ministers to ministries concerning economy and education, which are the two key sectors that are always close to the heart of the Chinese community, as well as to better reflect their plights to the government.
While he was hopeful of the newly-minted Federal cabinet line-up announced by the Prime Minister on Friday night, to steer the country to greater heights, he nonetheless hoped that the Prime Minister could later appoint more women policymakers, including Chinese women policymakers, as deputy ministers. He cited that this was because presently, out of the 28 ministers, only 5 of them or 17.8% are women.
He also reckoned that, since the Prime Minister had promised to ensure a ‘slimmer’ cabinet, the number of the soon-to-be-appointed deputy ministers too is expected to be smaller.
He recognized that it was inevitable for the Prime Minister to take into strategic considerations when appointing some of his cabinet members; this includes the three candidates who lost in the 15th general election, and a non-politician as the Religious Affairs Minister, in order to ensure political stability in the current political climate.
Goh who is also President of The Federation of Chinese Associations Sabah (FCAS), acknowledged that the new Federal cabinet is an inclusive, multiracial cabinet, which reflected well on a multiracial Malaysian society.
He also hoped the new cabinet could strive to implement policies which are constructive and promote cooperation between political parties from both sides of the divide, besides uniting Malaysians of all races, towards resuscitating our economic recovery.
“This is also in line with the Prime Minister’s emphasis that, currently, the government’s top priorities are to resuscitate the economy, and to reduce the people’s cost of living. To achieve this, the government, the people and the business sector must all work together!” he asserted.
