Introduction
Ismail Sabri took the oath of office as Prime Minister of Malaysia on 22 August 2021 before His Majesty the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, six days after the resignation of Muhyiddin Yassin and his Cabinet. Muhyiddin’s 17-months administration was unstable from the start because of the diverse interests among the loose Perikatan Nasional (PN, National Alliance) coalition members, particularly the United Malay National Organisation (UMNO).
Following Muhyiddin’s resignation, the Agong requested that members of parliament (MPs) submit their statutory declaration on their choice of a new PM. Despite underlying distrusts, the components of the former PN nominated UMNO’s Ismail Sabri as the PM and were united in rejecting opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim and his ally, the Democratic Action Party (DAP).
Circulation of Elites, Malaysian-Style
The days that immediately followed Muhyiddin’s resignation were filled with strategies among the MPs to name a candidate that would have a majority support. Notably, the components of the loose coalition—Barisan Nasional (BN, National Front), PN, Sarawak-based Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS, Sarawak Parties Alliance), and four independent MPs—were not willing to support a candidate from outside this arrangement.
UMNO, with the largest number of MPs, nominated Ismail Sabri Yaakob, the former deputy prime minister who was acceptable to the other components in the coalition. In terms of UMNO’s hierarchy, two other leaders are above Ismail but the president, Ahmad Zahid Hamidi is facing corruption charges in court, while the deputy president, Mohamad Hasan is not a member of parliament. Ismail, thus, seemed to be the person at the right place and the right time. With 114 members supporting him, Ismail has a thin majority in a Dewan Rakyat(the house of representatives) of 222 members.
Ismail’s appointment as the PM marked the return of UMNO to the country’s leadership after a 38 -month absence from the office. He is also the third PM appointed after the 14th general elections in 2018 that removed UMNO-BN from power. His appointment was the result of defectionsfrom Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (BERSATU, Malaysian United Indigenous Party) and some MPs from Pakatan Harapan (PH, Alliance of Hope) in February 2020.
The return of UMNO to the office of prime minister is a case of circulation of elites in Malaysian politics. The Italian sociologist Vilfredo Pareto (d. 1923) suggests that no matter who takes over the political office, it is in fact a circulation of elites. This theory explains that the elites, not the ordinary people, are the real determinants of the government. Whether a regime change is done through elections or other means, it is a group of elites who is replacing another. The role of the people in general is just as supporters to the elites.
In the Malaysian context, the elites have been from the same party since its independence, except between May 2018 to February 2020, where leaders from PH filled the executive offices. Even then, the prime minister, Dr. Mahathir Mohamad was once the president of UMNO. His successor from PN, Muhyiddin Yassin was also an UMNO deputy president who was sacked in June 2016 for alleged insubordination to the then president, Najib Abdul Razak.
Contextualising Ismail Sabri’s Cabinet
Support for Ismail Sabri’s premiership came from the same MPs who initially supported Muhyiddin. The latter lost his support from 14 UMNO MPs who reasoned that they could no longer support Muhyiddin for his insolence towards the Agong’s decree that the emergency ordinances be laid and debated in parliament before the emergency ended on 1 August 2021.
BERSATU’s immediate response following the resignation of Muhyiddin was to sustain the Malay-Muslim unity government that it had worked on establishing since February 2020, but at the same time ensure that UMNO leaders who are tainted with corruption charges would not be part of the new Cabinet. The party also demandedthat the post of deputy prime minister be held by one of its senior leaders.
Prime Minister Ismail had the same pool of leaders as Muhyiddin’s to choose his Cabinet from, namely the 114 MPs who supported his nomination as the PM. Public sentiment also ruled out a number of UMNO MPs who were facing corruption charges in court, including former PM Najib Abdul Razak and UMNO’s president, Ahmad Zahid Hamidi. His Cabinet should also be inclusive with representatives from different ethnic groups and East Malaysian states of Sabah and Sarawak.
These conditions limited Ismail’s choices for his Cabinet and thus unsurprisingly, his Cabinet would not look too different from his predecessor’s. There were only a few non-Malay BN MPs to choose from; two ethnic Chinese and one Indian in its ranks. For Sabah and Sarawak, however, there is enough ethnic diversity for Ismail to choose his Cabinet members from.
New Cabinet: More of the Same
Prime Minister Ismail announced his Cabinet on 27 August 2021, comprising of the same number of 31 ministers and 38 deputy ministers as his predecessor. He also avoided controversy or even infighting within UMNO by not nominating a deputy prime minister. It seemed that anyone he nominates from BERSATU—which may be necessary to keep his PM’s position—would not be acceptable to UMNO, which may jeopardise his already fragile position.
Muhyiddin’s earlier template of having four senior ministers was retained, with the same personnel except for Hishammuddin Hussein Onn who took over the position vacated by Ismail Sabri. The Cabinet size was not trimmed despite criticisms of it being oversized. In Prime Minister Ismail’s case, he needed to have representations from the allieswho supported his appointment.
The Cabinet’s most notable appointment was Khairy Jamaluddin as the Minister of Health. Formerly the Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation, Khairy overshadowed the then health minister in his capacity as the Head of the Special Committee for Ensuring Access to COVID-19 Vaccine Supply (JKJAV—Jawatankuasa Khas Jaminan Akses Bekalan Vaksin COVID-19). Furthermore, Ismail Sabri also retained Tengku Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz as the Minister of Finance amid demands that the position be given to UMNO.
Of Muhyiddin’s Cabinet members, five were not re-nominated. Ismail instead named five new ministers, three of them senior UMNO leaders who were also ministers in previous administrations—Mahdzir Khalid, Noh Omar and Shahidan Kasim. Again, this emphasizes Ismail’s limited options. Politically, UMNO has slightly increased its representation in Cabinet. More importantly, Ismail has managed to build his power base for a possible challenge to the party’s top leadership in the next party’s election that is scheduled to be held before 29 December 2022.
Despite the uncertainties over the resignation of Muhyiddin Yassin as prime minister, the events that followed were anti-climactic. The Cabinet line-up largely consisted of the same people, with some changes in portfolios. In fact, this new Cabinet is nothing more than a Cabinet reshuffle. To gain Malaysian’s trust, Prime Minister Ismail requires them to prove their initial performance within the first 100 days. The question is: can the recycled Cabinet, most of whom were ministers since March 2020 with diverse results, deliver better performance in their first 100 days with Ismail Sabri?
