KUALA LUMPUR: There is no need for a cabinet reshuffle at this point of time according to Tan Sri Rafidah Aziz.
The former Wanita Umno chief said the new ministers needed more time as they were “freshies”.
“It’s unfair to evaluate them after just five months. Some of them are also first time MPs.
“And these guys (Pakatan Harapan) have never been in government except for a few MPs like Lim Guan Eng,” she said referring to the Finance Minister who formerly served as Penang Chief Minister for two terms.
Rafidah who spoke on the sidelines of the Malaysian Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators' symposium, here, today, said she on the other hand was expected to hit the ground running back then due to the preparatory roles offered to her.
She said that she started off as a parliamentary secretary before rising to the role of a deputy minister and then minister.
Asked for a time frame on the new ministers to brush up on their performance, Rafidah however dismissed the question.
She also declined to speculate on cabinet members who deserved to be axed for their poor performance.
“Let the prime minister decide. Why should we?” she asked, adding that she had no knowledge of Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s rumoured plans to axe underperforming cabinet members.
“The fact that they don’t make noise doesn't mean that they are not good. In the previous government we had many who made noise like nobody’s business, you think they were any good?
“Some people are just quiet workers and we need workers, they are meant to be Yang Berusaha or Yang Bekerja not Yang Berhormat.”
“(So) We want workers and as long as they can work and meet the collective target they can do it their own way," she added.