After 100 days of PH rule, many Malaysians still do not know their ministers

NSTP survey finds barely 40pc know about the new cabinet line-up

MANY Malaysians still do not know who their cabinet ministers are, especially those who are the least known, despite it has been 100 days since Pakatan Harapan (PH) took over the administration of the country.

A New Straits Time Press survey involving 500 respondents, with an average of 40 respondents from each state, finds that barely 40 per cent know who their cabinet ministers are.

These include seasoned politicians like Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, Home Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng, Defence Minister Mohamad Sabu and Economic Affairs Minister Datuk Seri Azmin Ali.

In the survey, each respondent was asked three questions — the names of 10 ministers from specific ministries, the names of five ministries of ministers and the names of menteris besar and chief ministers in PH-held states.

In the first question, respondents were asked to name the ministers of the Rural Development Ministry, Entrepreneurial Development Ministry, Energy, Science, Technology, Environment and Climate Change Ministry, Prime Minister’s Department (Law), International Trade and Industry Ministry, Tourism, Arts and Culture Ministry, Transport Ministry, Water, Land and Natural Resources Ministry, Works Ministry and the Health Ministry.

Out of the 500 respondents, only 99 knew Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Law) Datuk Liew Vui Keong, Rural Development Minister Rina Harun (165), Entrepreneurial Development Minister Mohd Redzuan Md Yusof (113), Energy, Science, Technology, Environ- ment and Climate Change Minister Yeo Bee Yin (97) and International Trade and Industry Minister Ignatius Dorell Leiking (107).

This was followed by Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister Mohamaddin Ketapi (81), Transport Minister Anthony Loke (192), Water, Land and Natural Resources Minister Dr Xavier Jayakumar (125), Works Minister Baru Bian (134) and Health Minister Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad (190).

In the the second question, the respondents were asked to name the ministries of more popular ministers, namely Datuk Salahuddin Ayub, Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah, Teresa Kok, Dr Maszlee Malik and Gobind Singh Deo.

A total of 145 people answered correctly Salahuddin as the agriculture and agro-based industry minister, Saifuddin as foreign minister (124), Theresa Kok as primary industries minister (102), Maszlee as education minister (307) and Gobind as communications and multimedia minister (205).

The third question required respondents to name the menteri besar or chief minister of Negri Sembilan, Perak, Johor, Malacca and Penang.

Only 80 people knew that Johor MB is Datuk Osman Sapian, Selangor MB is Amirudin Shari (78), Negri Sembilan MB is Aminuddin Harun (66), Perak MB is Ahmad Faizal Azumu (97), Malacca MB is Adly Zahari (79) and Penang CM is Chow Kon Yeow (67).