KUALA LUMPUR: Two ministers from different sides of the political divide during the previous government administrations were named as deputy ministers by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim today.
Datuk Seri Dr Noraini Ahmad, 56, who celebrated her birthday recently on Nov 7, was named as the new Deputy Women, Family, and Community Development Minister, while 66 year-old DAP lawmaker M. Kulasegaran has been named as Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (Law and Institutional Reform).
Noraini, who hails from Batu Pahat, Johor, is the four-term Parit Sulong Member of Parliament (MP) and Wanita Umno chief. She is also the current chairwoman of the Rubber Industry Smallholders Development Authority (Risda).
Previously, under the administration of Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin and Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob, Noraini served as Higher Education Minister in 2020 to November last year.
Prior to that, Noraini's first appointment to the cabinet was as Deputy Human Resources Minister from March 2008 to April 2009 under Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and Datuk Seri Najib Razak.
DAP vice chairman Kulasegaran, who hails from Sitiawan, Perak, is a lawyer who is a four-term MP for the constituency of Ipoh Barat since 2004. Previously he was the MP for Teluk Intan from 1997 to 1999.
He made his debut at federal level when he was appointed as Human Resources minister during the administration of the first Pakatan Harapan government from May 2018 until February 2020 that was helmed by Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.