Cabinet quota disrespectful to Pakatan component parties, DAP Socialist Youth says

(MMO) – DAP Socialist Youth (DAPSY) complained today about the final Cabinet list that excluded the party’s nominations of Nga Kor Ming and Chong Chieng Jen.

After 13 additional Cabinet ministers were sworn in today, DAPSY national chief Wong Kah Woh pointed out that the DAP only received six ministerial positions in the 26-minister Cabinet, even though it won 42 parliament seats in the 14th general election.

“The prime minister’s actions were not appropriate because the Cabinet list was not proportionate to the number of seats won by a party reflective of the people’s wishes.

“In fact, such a decision also disrespects the suggestions made by the leadership of component parties,” Wong said in a statement.

Nga and Chong head the Perak and Sarawak DAP chapters respectively. Chong was sworn in today as Deputy Minister of Domestic Trade, Co-operatives and Consumerism.

DAP leaders sworn in as ministers today were first-term MP Yeo Bee Yin (Science, Technology, Science, Climate Change and Environment) and Seputeh MP Teresa Kok (Primary Industries), following the earlier ministerial appointments of their party colleagues Lim Guan Eng (Finance), Anthony Loke (Transport), Gobind Singh Deo (Communications and Multimedia) and M. Kulasegaran (Human Resources).

Wong said today that DAPSY was not refuting Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s views in choosing talent or questioning the capabilities of the chosen Cabinet ministers.

“However, DAPSY wishes to stress that no other party has greater understanding and trust in the qualifications and capabilities of candidates proposed by the party, other than the party itself,” he said.

“Even though Pakatan Harapan gave the prime minister the final decision-making authority to decide the Cabinet list, the prime minister should have listened to the voices and opinions of fellow allies in the appointments and not acted otherwise.”

Wong questioned if the DAP would be forced to accept the rejection of the DAP secretary-general for any appointment in future.

Malay Mail reported last month that Dr Mahathir dropped Nga from the Cabinet list purportedly for the latter’s allegedly racist comments in the past.