No cabinet reshuffle – Dr M
Prime Minister says ministers performing, sees no reason to make changes
PUTRAJAYA: Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad yesterday reiterated that there will be no Cabinet reshuffle and that he is 100 per cent behind his team of ministers.
“They (the ministers) are performing. I don’t see any reason to reshuffle the Cabinet,” he said.
Speaking at a special interview in conjunction with the upcoming Pakatan Harapan (PH) first anniversary as the ruling party, the prime minister acknowledged that most of his ministers were new and inexperienced when they took office.
On top of it, he said, they are so afraid of being accused of doing the wrong things.
“This makes decision-making by them difficult, but they are learning very fast,” Dr Mahathir said.
When asked to evaluate his ministers, Dr Mahathir said he gave them “5 over 10” as he is very
Sometimes they do something without consulting me that should not be done. Creating some minor problems. But they learn. Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad
conservative.
“Sometimes they do something without consulting me that should not be done. Creating some minor problems. But they learn.
“Sometimes they get bad publicity because of what they do. Then, they come to me to ask what should be done. I listen to them and give my views,” he said.
Dr Mahathir said that as the prime minister, he tries to teach and guide them, and he is confident that they will be as good as the experienced ones, given time.
On another subject, the prime minister said the government would continue to hunt for fugitive businessman Jho Low even though some of the money from the misappropriated funds of 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) has been retrieved.
Dr Mahathir said lots of money have been lost and there was evidence showing Jho Low taking the money from 1MDB.
“A huge amount of the money is still missing. Not much have we retrieved, only less than RM2 billion.
“He stole RM42 billion from 1MDB. Who gets it? Who keeps it? Where is the money?” he added.
He said although authorities were now having problems finding Jho Low, he was confident that they were already halfway in finding him.