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Malaysia's Anwar unveils Cabinet, picks scandal-hit ally as deputy

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Kyodo News

<p>KUALA LUMPUR - Malaysia&#x27;s new Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim unveiled his Cabinet Friday, naming himself finance minister and rewarding politicians who helped him secure power, including a scandal-tainted close ally.</p><p>Expectations for a reformist government had been high for Anwar, who had campaigned on a platform of fighting corruption in a recent general election that resulted in a hung parliament.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/spotlight/11/24/22/malaysias-new-pm-anwar-from-prison-to-power-a-dream-fulfilled">Malaysia&#x27;s new PM Anwar: from prison to power, a dream fulfilled</a></li>	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/11/25/22/marcos-congratulates-new-malaysian-pm-seeks-stronger-ties">Marcos congratulates new Malaysian PM, seeks stronger ties</a></li></ul><p>But analysts fear that his Cabinet is merely based on political expediency, given his delicate task of placating demands from various political parties and fulfilling his pledge for a clean and lean government. His choice of Ahmad Zahid Hamidi could also prove to be a shackle on his administration, they say.</p><p>Anwar, 75, was sworn in as premier last Thursday after successfully cobbling together a unity government comprising four coalitions with 17 political parties in total, in addition to a couple of independent legislators.</p><p>Zahid, the president of the former ruling party, United Malays National Organization, who has been named as one of Anwar&#x27;s two deputies, is currently facing dozens of corruption charges in court. But he was also influential in bringing in the numbers to enable Anwar to form his government.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/overseas/11/24/22/opposition-leader-anwar-named-malaysia-prime-minister">Opposition leader Anwar named Malaysia PM: Palace</a></li></ul><p>Anwar&#x27;s multiethnic Pakatan Harapan or Alliance of Hope won 81 seats, followed by the conservative ethnic Malay Muslim-centric Perikatan Nasional or the National Alliance, led by former Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, which took 73 seats in the House of Representatives, the lower house of the parliament.</p><p>However, Malaysia practices the &quot;first-past-the-post&quot; system, meaning the party that wins 112 of the 222 seats in the lower house can form the government. But for the first time, none of the coalitions succeeded in securing a simple majority.</p><div><strong>WATCH</strong></div><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe allow="autoplay; fullscreen" frameBorder="0" height="100%" id="ivsplayer01" scrolling="no" src="https://player.ivideosmart.com/ivsplayer/v4/dist/html/iframe-src.html?iframeid=ivsplayer01&amp;key=e8c22c015ca9eafa76f1e3edfa03c603&amp;spid=3001339&amp;vid=2353746" width="100%"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more News on <a href="https://www.iwanttfc.com/#!/browse/Genres/News/tag_id_genres/id_news" target="_blank">iWantTFC</a></div><p>UMNO, the lynchpin of the Barisan Nasional or the National Front, played a key role in breaking the deadlock by throwing its 30 seats to PH.</p><p>Anwar then secured the support of two more blocs from Sabah and Sarawak states in Borneo, bringing him a super majority of 148 seats in the lower house.</p><p>But Keith Leong, of public consultancy think tank KRA Group, told Kyodo News that the supermajority is no assurance for Anwar, as &quot;the reality is that this is a grand coalition government.&quot;</p><p>==Kyodo</p>

Expectations for a reformist government had been high for Anwar, who had campaigned on a platform of fighting corruption in a recent general election that resulted in a hung parliament.