Najib to be sworn in Friday?

The Star Reports:

PETALING JAYA: Cabinet ministers, mentris besar and chief ministers have received invitations to attend the swearing-in ceremony of the new Prime Minister at Istana Negara on Friday.

Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz confirmed that he had received an invitation card for the ceremony, which was sent to his office at Parliament House.

“I will attend the ceremony,” he said Tuesday.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi Abdullah said last week that he would seek an audience with the Yang di-Pertuan Agong Tuanku Mizan Zainal Abidin on Thursday to convey his intention to step down as prime minister and pave the way for the leadership transition.

If the Agong consents, then Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak would become Malaysia’s sixth premier.

Leaner Cabinet? Meanwhile in KUALA LUMPUR, national news agency Bernama said that Najib is expected to introduce a leaner Cabinet, quoting analysts.

They said a smaller cabinet would be more in tune with the current situation and in line with the new Umno president’s vision to have a line-up that is “solid, efficient and with integrity.”

They also expect several ministries to merge to address redundancy among agencies and create a better coordinated as well as more efficient administrative machinery, Bernama said.

“With a smaller cabinet, wastage of resources can be avoided. The delivery system can also be improved further,” political analyst Associate Prof Dr Mohammad Agus Yusoff said on Tuesday.

Apart from the prime minister and his deputy, there are 29 ministers in 27 ministries, including five in the Prime Minister’s Department.

Dr Mohammad Agus foresees that based on the current situation, Najib is expected to trim down the cabinet to between 20 and 24 ministries, which he said was the ideal size of the government.

University of Malaya’s media and communications lecturer Associate Prof Dr Abu Hassan Hasbullah said the cabinet could be restructured further, especially when it comes to the ministries in charge of media, communications and information technology.

“As it is, there is a overlap of functions involving several ministries,” he said, citing the creative industry as an example.

Dr Abu Hassan suggested that the Information Ministry be retained to take charge of the dissemination of government information, covering television and radio stations as well as Bernama. A special ministry should be created, he said, to take charge of the multimedia and communications industry, including film development.

Players in the transportation industry echoed the sentiment, with the Pan-Malaysia Bus Operators Association saying that at the moment, the sector was being looked after by 13 ministries.

“It is better to coordinate all these functions,” its president Datuk Mohamed Ashfar Ali told Bernama.