Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi announced his new administration on Tuesday, trimming his Cabinet from 32 to 27 seats, of which more than half featured new faces.
Abdullah, who retained his Finance portfolio, scrapped the post of parliamentary secretary.
He did not retain big names such as Datuk Seri Rafidah Aziz (former International Trade and Industry Minister), Datuk Azmi Khalid (former Natural Resources and Environment Minister), Radzi Sheik Ahmad (former Home Affairs Minister), Datuk Dr Jamaluddin Jarjis (former Science, Technology and Innovations Minister) and Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Mansor (Tourism Minister).
MCA president Datuk Seri Ong Ka Ting (former Housing and Local Government Minister) asked not to be reappointed so that he could focus his energies on rebuilding the MCA after its disappointing performance in the election.
Abdullah also merged the Home Affairs and Internal Security ministries, saying that they had many overlapping functions, and named former Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar as its minister.
Higher Education Minister Datuk Seri Khaled Nordin, formerly Entrepreneur and Cooperative Development Minister, saidAbdullah also appointed two corporate figures, who will be sworn in as senators later Tuesday, as ministers in the Prime Minister's Department.
They are lawyer Datuk Zaid Ibrahim, the former MP of Kota Baru who was not chosen to contest in the recent general election, and Maybank chief executive officer Datuk Amirsham A. Aziz; the latter will head the Economic Planning Unit. he was looking forward to the challenges of his new portfolio.
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