KUALA LUMPUR: MCA Youth deputy chief Mike Chong Yew Chuan has been criticised for calling the cabinet announced by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim 'bloated'.
Earlier today Chong had expressed his disappointment over the splitting of ministries, such as the Communications and Digital Ministry and the Natural Resources, Environment and Climate Change Ministry which he said contradicted the Prime Minister's earlier commitment in maintaining a lean cabinet when Anwar first took office.
The statement drew the ire of Bangi Member of Parliament (MP) Syahredzan Johan who has hit back on X, "Why was MCA not disappointed when they were part of a bigger administration where there were more ministers and deputy ministers?"
The DAP lawmaker also shared a diagram which compared Anwar's cabinet to that of his predecessors.
Anwar's new cabinet lineup has 31 ministers who are assisted by 29 deputy ministers (60), whereas before last years 15th General Election (GE-15), Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob's cabinet boasted 31 ministers with 38 deputy ministers (69).
The preceeding government before that led by Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin saw 32 ministers and 38 deputy ministers (70) in the cabinet.
When Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad helmed the Pakatan Harapan government from 2018 to February 2020, the cabinet was made up of 28 ministers and 26 deputy ministers (54), while Datuk Seri Najib Razak's Cabinet line up before the 14th General Election (GE-14) saw 35 ministers with 33 deputy ministers (68).
Chong's boss, MCA president Datuk Seri Dr Wee Ka Siong served as transport minister under former Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin and Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob, while party vice-president Wee Jeck Seng was the deputy plantation industries and commodities minister.
Chong had previously called on Anwar to discard what he felt to be non-performing ministers from the Cabinet, such as economy minister Rafizi Ramli and agriculture and food security minister Mohamad Sabu.