KUALA LUMPUR: V Sivakumar has turned out to be the biggest casualty after being the only minister ousted from the administration in today's cabinet reshuffle announced by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
Replacing Sivakumar is Steven Sim, who has taken a step up from his deputy role in Finance. Steven, who is the member of parliament (MP) for Bukit Mertajam, is currently the youngest minister in the cabinet.
Lim Hui Ying, the sister of DAP chairman and former finance minister Lim Guan Eng, now occupies Sim's previous post as Deputy Finance Minister.
Two deputy ministers have also been omitted from the lineup, notably Ramkarpal Singh, who served as the deputy Law and Institutional Reform minister. The Bukit Gelugor MP has been succeeded by M Kulasegaran, the former Human Resources minister in the previous Pakatan Harapan (PH) government.
Making a return to the cabinet is Damansara MP Gobind Singh Deo as the Digital minister. Gobind, who is Ramkarpal's brother, was previously the Communications and Multimedia minister in the PH administration.
Meanwhile, another casualty was Siti Aminah Aching, who was removed as the Plantation and Commodities deputy minister. Chan Foong Hin now takes over her role, having previously served as the deputy Agriculture and Food Security minister.
Separately, Wanita Umno chief Noraini Ahmad returns to government, now appointed as deputy Women, Family, and Community Development minister, following her tenure as the Higher Education Minister.
An interesting addition to the cabinet is PKR's R Ramanan, newly appointed as deputy Entrepreneur and Cooperatives Development minister. Serving his first term as the Sungai Buloh MP, Ramanan is also chairman of the Malaysian Indian Transformation Unit (Mitra).