Najib Cabinet Rewards Base as Chinese Sidelined: Southeast Asia

ARCHIVES 2013

By admin-s On May 16, 2013

(Bloomberg) – “The Cabinet reflects a prime minister concerned about retaining the premiership and the presidency of UMNO,” said Edmund Terence Gomez, a professor at the University of Malaya in Kuala Lumpur. “I don’t see any move in the direction to talk about reconciliation and transformation and inclusivity in this cabinet.”

Prime Minister Najib Razak stocked his Cabinet with party stalwarts, after the ruling coalition’s biggest ethnic Chinese partner said it wouldn’t accept ministerial posts following its poor election showing.

Najib tapped leaders of his ruling United Malays Nasional Organisation for key positions before party polls later this year that will determine whether he stays on as prime minister. He also gave posts to the heads of Malaysia’s biggest bank, a corruption watchdog and a Hindu rights group. Two of the new line-up are Chinese, compared with more than a dozen previously.

“The Cabinet reflects a prime minister concerned about retaining the premiership and the presidency of UMNO,” said Edmund Terence Gomez, a professor at the University of Malaya in Kuala Lumpur. “I don’t see any move in the direction to talk about reconciliation and transformation and inclusivity in this cabinet.”

Najib’s coalition retained power in the May 5 election even after losing a majority of the popular vote for the first time since 1969, which the prime minister attributed to a loss of support from Chinese voters. Besides an ethnic divide, his administration faces a weakening economy, with Malaysia’s growth slowing to less than 5 percent for the first in seven quarters.

“The recovery in terms of exports is quite weak” and will be determined by a growth rebound in developed markets, Ho Woei Chen, a Singapore-based economist at United Overseas Bank Ltd., said yesterday, before the release of economic data. “But consumption, investments will remain strong in Malaysia.”

GDP Misses

Gross domestic product rose 4.1 percent in the three months through March from a year earlier, after a revised 6.5 percent gain in the previous quarter, the central bank said yesterday. That’s lower than all 22 estimates in a Bloomberg Newssurvey. The monetary authority kept its full-year growth forecast at as much as 6 percent.

The ringgit slipped 0.4 percent before the GDP data was released. It has risen about 3.8 percent in the past 12 months, the fourth-best performer among the 11 most actively traded Asian currencies tracked by Bloomberg. The benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI Index has gained more than 14 percent and closed 0.3 percent lower yesterday.

Najib’s coalition won 133 seats, topping the 89 seats claimed by Anwar Ibrahim’s three-party opposition, which captured 51 percent of the popular vote. Anwar has said he’ll challenge about 30 seats, enough to swing the result, and has held rallies in different states after the election.

MCA Vote

Ethnic Chinese parties in the government won nine seats compared with 23 in the 2008 election. Chua Soi Lek, president of the Malaysian Chinese Association, said on on May 6 the party wouldn’t take up its allotment of Cabinet posts.

Najib said he has reserved the transport minister’s position for the party in case it changes its mind when it meets to select a new leader.

“We are a balanced cabinet and the transport ministry will be given to MCA once they have decided,” Najib said in Putrajaya, the country’s administrative capital.