KUALA LUMPUR ― Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin has several creases to iron out before he can be recognised as a “prime minister for all”, several political observers have noted.

The analysts polled by Malay Mail suggested that Mr Muhyiddin must first address the imbalance in his Cabinet that is largely dominated by Malay-Muslim MPs.

“I expected that if he wanted more representatives from the non-Malay community, he could have appointed neutral Chinese and Indian individuals as senators,” Universiti Sains Malaysia academic Ahmad Fauzi Abdul Hamid told Malay Mail.

“Just as he had done with the new finance minister and the new religious affairs minister of the Prime Minister's Department. I was thinking of someone like Tan Sri Lee Lam Thye, who is a nationalist.”

However, Mr Ahmad Fauzi was also cynical that Mr Muhyiddin would do so, as the selection may have been influenced by the need to placate the Malay-Muslim parties in Perikatan Nasional.

Instead, the professor proposed that Mr Muhyiddin maintain internal cohesiveness in the pact, pointing to alleged internal rift within top Pakatan Harapan leadership that he said led to the coalition’s downfall.

“There was not enough cohesiveness and with its ministers contradicting each other,” he said.

“This is something Muhyiddin needs to learn from. With the amount of time he is buying until May (next Parliament sitting), it gives him the opportunity to actually promote unity, intra-government unity and intra-Cabinet unity within the new administration.”

Mr Ahmad Fauzi also pointed out that, the fact that Mr Muhyiddin is leading a minority party in a pact, just like Dr Mahathir Mohamad previously did with Bersatu, he has to do things creatively as he now holds the cards not just to unity, but also the survival of the Cabinet.

“But bear in mind that Dr Mahathir's reputation was far more established (than Muhyiddin), not just nationally but internationally.

“This is one of the things Muhyiddin, who has been mainly known as a Malay nationalist all along, has to work out these things if he wants to be PM for all,” he added.

Mr Awang Azman Awang Pawi of University of Malaya also said that the prime minister now needs to convince Malaysians that his appointments can help him govern the country.

He listed several appointments which could be subject to public scrutiny, including Kubang Kerian MP Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man as Minister of Environment and Rantau Panjang MP Siti Zailah Mohd Yusoff as deputy women’s minister.

“If you look at Kelantan and their track record of protecting the environment. How has it been like? And now the person who is in charge of the environment ministry is from Kelantan.

“Also, the Rantau Panjang MP, she was the same person who made statements about child marriage. Is she suitable for that portfolio?” Mr Awang Azman said, referring to neglect against Orang Asli and environment in Kelantan and Siti Zailah’s apparent defence of child marriage and moral policing against women.

Meanwhile, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia’s Azmi Hassan suggested that the appointment of technocrats in the Cabinet shows Mr Muhyiddin’s seriousness on moving things along regardless of partisan lines.

“The appointment of Tengku Zafrul as the finance minister shows that the government is serious about the matters related to this sector,” he said, referring to former CIMB chief Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz.

“We can see the prime minister is trying to disseminate messages to the people that this Cabinet can deliver with the appointment of a minister who is not related to any political party.”

Last week, Mr Muhyiddin promised to be a prime minister for all Malaysians, as the country remains divided across ethno-religious and class lines.

Following his swearing in, some social media users have claimed to have seen and faced an increase of racial posts against critics of the Pagoh MP and his coalition government with Malay nationalist party Umno and Islamist party PAS.

On Tuesday (March 10) night, Communications and Multimedia minister Saifuddin Abdullah also downplayed the dominance of Malay ministers and deputies in the Perikatan Nasional government, and suggested instead that it can still be an inclusive one.

In an interview with state broadcaster RTM, Mr Saifuddin said a government in Malaysia has no choice but to appeal to the plural society, pointing out also that the Cabinet now has better representation of East Malaysians than Pakatan Harapan.

There are 63 Malay or Bumiputera MPs among the total ministers and Cabinet ministers, compared to five ethnic Chinese and two ethnic Indians.

There are also just nine women in total, compared to 61 men. MALAY MAIL