Malaysia's revamped Cabinet brings 16 new faces to boost credibility after poll debacle - AP

By Eileen Ng, AP

PUTRAJAYA, Malaysia (AP) - Malaysia's prime minister unveiled a revamped Cabinet on Tuesday, dropping half of his old ministers in a move welcomed by analysts as an attempt to provide a better administration after the ruling coalition's election debacle.

"My expectation is that they will perform better than before," Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi told reporters.

Abdullah retained 16 full ministers from the old Cabinet and brought in 16 new people to replace those who were sacked or retired. Every ministry has a new head in the reshuffle except for finance, defense, education and plantations.

The biggest casualty was Rafidah Aziz, who was fired as minister of international trade and industry, a post she had held since 1987.

She was replaced by Muhyiddin Yassin, the agriculture minister in the previous Cabinet.

Abdullah refused to say why he dropped the firebrand Rafidah, who has successfully led many trade negotiations but has also faced corruption accusations.

The new Cabinet has 32 full ministers and 37 deputy ministers. Abdullah abolished the post of parliamentary secretaries, the third-ranking officials in each ministry, to reduce the Cabinet size to 69 from 90 previously.

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