Innuendoes on inherited baggage -- quite late, eh?

The NST today on page 2 caught Desi's eyes,raised his eyebrows, a
and then the humerus bones rose up in guffaws -- so loud mGf half-americaNICEd Dr Say Yee How (of howsy.blogspot.com fame?)
came running back from the US via Ipoh down to hazy, mazy, crazy FOLKSY Furong to say: Ayam Back for the Kambing!:)

NST Online » Frontpage2008/03/19

PM breaks away from Cabinet he inherited

EIGHT ministers who won in polls but dropped: 1) Datuk Seri Rafidah Aziz (who was Minister of International Trade and Industry); 2) Datuk Seri Radzi Sheikh Ahmad (Home Affairs); 3) Datuk Seri Azmi Khalid (Natural Resources and Environment); 4) Datuk Seri Dr Jamaluddin Jarjis (Science, Technology and Innovation); 5) Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor (Tourism); 6) Datuk Abdullah Md Zin (PM’s Dept); 7) Datuk Seri Ong Ka Ting (Housing and Local Government) and 8) Datuk Seri Dr Fong Chan Onn (Human Resources).

PM announces new streamlined line-up:
* Eight, including Rafidah, dropped
* More than half new faces
* Zaid Ibrahim brought in to restore credibility of judiciary
* Ministers to make public declaration of assets

PUTRAJAYA: All in all, this is the cabinet and government the Barisan Nasional should have had four years ago.

A smaller cabinet; more than half new faces; long-serving, controversial and ageing and ineffective ministers dropped; racial balance maintained despite heavy losses by component parties; higher representation from Sabah and Sarawak; reformers and proven technocrats co-opted into government; abolishing the post of parliamentary secretary to ensure government members attend parliament. Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi yesterday demonstrated that he had indeed heard and listened to the voices of the electorate -- almost half of whom voted against his party, handing the coalition its worst defeat since 1969.He announced a smaller cabinet, comprising 32 ministers. There were 37 deputy ministers.
He broke away from the cabinet he inherited from his predecessor, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, in 2003 to which he had only made minimal changes despite his major victory in 2004.The old faces who had stirred so much angst among voters, such as Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu; and the unpopular ministers who were still fielded, like Datuk Seri Zainuddin Maidin and Datuk Seri Aziz Shamsuddin -- they are all no longer in government.Long-serving International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Rafidah Aziz was also dropped. So was controversial Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor, who was implicated in the Lingam video clip but has denied all allegations made against him.Also shown the exit door was Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Datuk Seri Jamaluddin Jarjis and the two ministers from Perlis who were involved in the divisive political fracas in the small state -- Datuk Seri Radzi Sheikh Ahmad and Datuk Seri Azmi Khalid.Perlis, which had the biggest representation in percentage terms, did not get even one position this time because of the problems its MPs created before, during and after the general election.And in their places came 16 new ministers, including the respected Malayan Banking chief executive officer Datuk Amirsham A Aziz, in charge of economic planning; outspoken lawyer Datuk Zaid Ibrahim, in charge of judicial reforms; and maverick but hard-hitting and respected Johor Baru MP Datuk Shahrir Samad.
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DESIDERATA: Reprising the news report's FIRST PARA from above -- All in all, this is the cabinet and government the Barisan Nasional should have had four years ago. -- note that it said "should have" which is actually not news writing but an OPINION.

It just means the reporter -- most likely the EDITOR! -- has spun the story to imply slyly that the Prime Minister was not smart enough then, four years ago, to see the baggage he inherited from his predecessor, hence leading to poor dilvery and non-performance, resulting in the "devastating" body blows to the Barisan Nasional in the recently-concluded GE2008.

So it is convenient to blame it on former PM Dr Mahathir Mohamad's olde Cabinet members like the Iron Lady, Semi-valued etc, etc who overstayed their welcome -- shoved down his throat -- poor Pak Lah, Mr Nice Guy, did not have the gumption (Some would use the less diplomatic term b***s, but Desi refrains...) to sack the dead wood. Now his henchmen at the newspapers do the spinning -- will it be spun again like the fun-fair spinning wheels four or five years to come?

My only Comment on the Cabinet this time around -- Two Good APpointees to be welcomed are
, extracting again from above report, "outspoken lawyer Datuk Zaid Ibrahim, in charge of judicial reforms; and maverick but hard-hitting and respected Johor Baru MP Datuk Shahrir Samad."

PS: Someone sleeps pretty well and wakes up to realise he has become a Rip van Wrinkled -- Many Malaysians woke up recently to see the dawn of a brave new world. Someone is late and miss'd the boat (Kapal, eh?). Many Malaysians rode the Rocket to join the first Angkasawan, no thanks to the Russians.