KUALA LUMPUR: It has been more than a month since Pakatan Harapan took over the Federal Government from Barisan Nasional (BN) and Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad has denied squabbling being the reason why the country is yet to have a full Cabinet.
Speaking to Channel NewsAsia (CNA) in an exclusive interview, Dr Mahathir said he had already submitted his list of Cabinet members to the Yang Di-Pertuan Agong Sultan Muhammad V.
"It's not true (that there's squabbling delaying the full Cabinet announcement)," the prime minister was quoted as saying.
The Malaysian Cabinet had been announced in stages, with the first one comprising the prime minister himself and 4 others.
The first four were Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng, Home Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin and Defence Minister Mohamad Sabu.
Following that, several other portfolios were announced and the Cabinet has stood at 14 with the full list yet to be announced.
Dr Mahathir had previously said the full Cabinet would not exceed 30 ministers.
In the interview with CNA, Dr Mahathir said each party within the Pakatan Harapan coalition had submitted names to be considered however he had informed the heads of the parties that he might select names not on their list.
"I called up the people, ministers and deputy ministers to ask them whether they accept the post I'm giving them ... And strangely, there was not much protest," he told CNA.
The full Cabinet is expected to be made up of 29 ministers, according to the prime minister, and an announcement is expected once Sultan Muhammad V gives his consent.
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