A quick question: How big a cabinet is needed to efficiently run a US$223 billion economy?
Well, in the case of Singapore (estimated 2007 GDP of US$222.7 billion at Purchasing Power Parity and an estimated per capita GDP (PPP) of US$48,900), it just needs a cabinet of 36 officials, as per the latest cabinet reshuffle announced by Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.
Those 36 officials comprise:
- 1 prime minister,
- 1 senior minister,
- 1 minister mentor,
- 2 deputy prime ministers,
- 15 ministers,
- 7 senior ministers of state,
- 4 ministers of state,
- 4 senior parliamentary secretaries and
- 1 parliamentary secretary.
And Indian Singaporeans have done good in the Singapore cabinet reshuffle too:
- S Jayakumar (Deputy Prime Minister and Coordinating Minister for National Security)
- Vivian Balakrishnan (Minister for Community Development, Youth & Sports)
- Tharman Shanmugaratnam (Minister for Finance)
- K Shanmugam (Minister for Law and Second Minister for Home Affairs)
- Balaji Sadasivan (Senior Minister of State for Foreign Affairs); and
- S Iswaran (Senior Minister of State for Trade & Industry)
That's one deputy prime minister and three full ministers helming important portfolios like finance and law.
Singaporean Malays haven't done too badly either in the Singapore cabinet reshuffle:
- Yaacob Ibrahim (Minister for Environment and Water Resources)
- Zainul Abidin Rasheed (Senior Minister of State for Foreign Affairs)
- Masagos Zulkifli (Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Education & Home Affairs)
- Hawazi Daipi (Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Manpower & Health); and
- Mohamed Maliki Osman (Parliamentary Secretary for National Development)
That’s one full Malay minister.
Is it logical to compare the size (and composition) of the latest Singapore cabinet with the latest Malaysian cabinet announced by the Malaysian prime minister recently? Are we comparing ‘grapes’ and ‘apples’ (as a prominent Malaysian politician, who shall remain nameless, said in a pre-election speech)?
After all, Malaysia's estimated GDP in 2007 is US$358 billion (US$357.9 billion at Purchasing Power Parity, estimated per capita GDP (PPP) is US14,400).
So, maybe, a bigger Malaysian economy (as measured by GDP) does need a bigger cabinet to run it and the country. Or, maybe, the complexities of the Malaysian political system demand a large cabinet.
Or, maybe, and this is a naughty thought, the Singapore cabinet members are better at multi- tasking and have a better supporting bureaucracy and civil service than their Malaysian counterparts.
But it does make you think, doesn't it?
Shaukat Ali - Malaysiakini
Showing posts with label Cabinet. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cabinet. Show all posts
Saturday, April 05, 2008
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Deputy minister Ghapur quits - More headache for Pak Lah
Just a day more than a week after being appointed the Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environment, Ghapur Salleh has called it quits, saying that he wanted to “do my own thing”.
Just as the news of Ghapur stepping down trickled in, speculations on his reasons to do so also started to mount.
While some say that he could be joining the opposition, others merely suggested that his resignation could be more to an internal struggle within Sabah Umno.
Ghapur however rejected these, stating that he remained Kalabakan Umno division chief and at the same time dismissed any talk of him quitting the party or joining the opposition.
It is learnt that Ghapur has sent his resignation letter to Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi yesterday evening.
The prime minister has not responded publicly to the resignation. The matter is however expected to be discussed at the Umno Supreme Council meeting today as it effects a Umno position in the government.
Three deputy ministers now
Meanwhile, Ghapur was quoted as saying in a local daily that he was not interested in any government post.
“I’m not interested in any government post. I just want to do my own thing. I am still a division chief and I do not want people to speculate as my commitment is to Umno and its leadership under Abdullah Ahmad Badawi,” he was quoted as saying.
He was also asked as to why he waited until eight days after being appointed to step down and he responded by saying: “I don’t want to be tied up with government duties.”
“I’m leaving the matter in the hands of the prime minister,” he added.
Ghapur was a former Sabah deputy chief minister who quit the post in 1997 but returned to the state Cabinet several years later.
Ghapur, 64, is the second Sabah MP and Sabah Umno leader to turn down a federal deputy minister’s post following the March 8 general election.
Soon after Abdullah named his cabinet on March 18, Kimanis MP Anifah Aman declined to take up the post of Deputy Transport Minister.
Similarly another Umno leader, from Pahang, Tengku Azlan Sultan Abu Bakar, also declined the Deputy Foreign Minister’s post. Both of them said that they were senior enough to be made full ministers.
Just as the news of Ghapur stepping down trickled in, speculations on his reasons to do so also started to mount.
While some say that he could be joining the opposition, others merely suggested that his resignation could be more to an internal struggle within Sabah Umno.
Ghapur however rejected these, stating that he remained Kalabakan Umno division chief and at the same time dismissed any talk of him quitting the party or joining the opposition.
It is learnt that Ghapur has sent his resignation letter to Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi yesterday evening.
The prime minister has not responded publicly to the resignation. The matter is however expected to be discussed at the Umno Supreme Council meeting today as it effects a Umno position in the government.
Three deputy ministers now
Meanwhile, Ghapur was quoted as saying in a local daily that he was not interested in any government post.
“I’m not interested in any government post. I just want to do my own thing. I am still a division chief and I do not want people to speculate as my commitment is to Umno and its leadership under Abdullah Ahmad Badawi,” he was quoted as saying.
He was also asked as to why he waited until eight days after being appointed to step down and he responded by saying: “I don’t want to be tied up with government duties.”
“I’m leaving the matter in the hands of the prime minister,” he added.
Ghapur was a former Sabah deputy chief minister who quit the post in 1997 but returned to the state Cabinet several years later.
Ghapur, 64, is the second Sabah MP and Sabah Umno leader to turn down a federal deputy minister’s post following the March 8 general election.
Soon after Abdullah named his cabinet on March 18, Kimanis MP Anifah Aman declined to take up the post of Deputy Transport Minister.
Similarly another Umno leader, from Pahang, Tengku Azlan Sultan Abu Bakar, also declined the Deputy Foreign Minister’s post. Both of them said that they were senior enough to be made full ministers.
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
The new Cabinet: Racial distribution and the impact on Indians
Malaysiakini and The Star reported the full list of the new Malaysian Government cabinet line up. This article questions the race distribution algorithm behind the choice of the cabinet members, and tries to understand the impact on Indians.
In the new cabinet, there were 2 main glaring changes: (1) Rafidah Aziz is out, and (2) MIC lost the Works Ministry. The first, I celebrated. The second, made me pause.
The only full Ministership for an Indian is given to S. Subramaniam to head Human Resources. The Deputy Ministerships went to SK Devamany (Prime Minister Dept), Saravanan (Federal Territories) and Kohillan Pilay from Gerakan (Plantation Industries and Commodities).
Now, just for the sake of statistics, since the government is all about statistics on Malays vs Chinese vs Indians, lets do some numbers. There are 71 total members of the cabinet (correct me if I am wrong here). Out of the 71, 34 are full Ministers, the rest are deputies. Out of the 34, there are 4 Chinese, and 1 Indian. And out of the total cabinet, there are 15 Chinese and 4 Indians. So that gives 21.1% Chinese, and 5.6% Indians in the cabinet. For full Ministerships, (the post which actually matters), 11.7% are Chinese, and 2.9% is Indian (singular). Going by the same argument the government uses for University intakes, 60% should be Malays, 20 something % should be Chinese, and 10% should be Indians, can the government make clear why the Chinese and Indians are glaringly lacking in the cabinet? Now and before?
The excuse that MIC and MCA lost badly doesn't make sense. This race distribution has almost always been the case in the BN government. Besides, even UMNO has lost drastically in the current elections. Furthermore, cabinet members can also be selected through Senatorships (people who have lost the election, or never took part), so couldn't the government find qualified Chinese and Indians in the cabinet, just to make up the numbers, and better still, improve their tarnished racial (UMNO?) bias reputation?
Whatever. I just wanted to do some statistics here simply because I had a little too much time in my hands, besides really really being curious to know what is the algorithm behind the cabinet membership. Can someone clarify?
Now, in lots of statistical methods, weights are given to the data, to represent the importance of each data. Take Human Resources (skills) versus Works Ministry (toll). If your priority is in $$$, which Ministry will you choose? Duh. So that leaves Indians with a percentage approaching ZERO.
So what is the impact on Indians in general?
Besides making those Indians in MIC feel dejected, NOTHING.
This is because, in a polarized, race based coalition government, Indians are represented by MIC, Chinese by MCA and Malays by UMNO. So the following deduction is applied:
If UMNO is the defender of Malay rights only,
And if the Prime Minister is the head of UMNO,
The Prime Minister defends Malay rights only.
If Indians have problems, like if their village doesn't have electricity, temples are being demolished, no schools in their area, etc, they are required to see the MIC head, and not the PM. This was slyly, and implicitly (if not explicitly) admitted by our great ex-PM himself, Tun Dr Mahathir (EITHER you get Indian support OR Malay support, remember?).
So Indians are expected to see S. Subramaniam next, when Samy Vellu leaves. So what has changed? Besides making Subra less richer, NOTHING.
courtesy of tides of change
In the new cabinet, there were 2 main glaring changes: (1) Rafidah Aziz is out, and (2) MIC lost the Works Ministry. The first, I celebrated. The second, made me pause.
The only full Ministership for an Indian is given to S. Subramaniam to head Human Resources. The Deputy Ministerships went to SK Devamany (Prime Minister Dept), Saravanan (Federal Territories) and Kohillan Pilay from Gerakan (Plantation Industries and Commodities).
Now, just for the sake of statistics, since the government is all about statistics on Malays vs Chinese vs Indians, lets do some numbers. There are 71 total members of the cabinet (correct me if I am wrong here). Out of the 71, 34 are full Ministers, the rest are deputies. Out of the 34, there are 4 Chinese, and 1 Indian. And out of the total cabinet, there are 15 Chinese and 4 Indians. So that gives 21.1% Chinese, and 5.6% Indians in the cabinet. For full Ministerships, (the post which actually matters), 11.7% are Chinese, and 2.9% is Indian (singular). Going by the same argument the government uses for University intakes, 60% should be Malays, 20 something % should be Chinese, and 10% should be Indians, can the government make clear why the Chinese and Indians are glaringly lacking in the cabinet? Now and before?
The excuse that MIC and MCA lost badly doesn't make sense. This race distribution has almost always been the case in the BN government. Besides, even UMNO has lost drastically in the current elections. Furthermore, cabinet members can also be selected through Senatorships (people who have lost the election, or never took part), so couldn't the government find qualified Chinese and Indians in the cabinet, just to make up the numbers, and better still, improve their tarnished racial (UMNO?) bias reputation?
Whatever. I just wanted to do some statistics here simply because I had a little too much time in my hands, besides really really being curious to know what is the algorithm behind the cabinet membership. Can someone clarify?
Now, in lots of statistical methods, weights are given to the data, to represent the importance of each data. Take Human Resources (skills) versus Works Ministry (toll). If your priority is in $$$, which Ministry will you choose? Duh. So that leaves Indians with a percentage approaching ZERO.
So what is the impact on Indians in general?
Besides making those Indians in MIC feel dejected, NOTHING.
This is because, in a polarized, race based coalition government, Indians are represented by MIC, Chinese by MCA and Malays by UMNO. So the following deduction is applied:
If UMNO is the defender of Malay rights only,
And if the Prime Minister is the head of UMNO,
The Prime Minister defends Malay rights only.
If Indians have problems, like if their village doesn't have electricity, temples are being demolished, no schools in their area, etc, they are required to see the MIC head, and not the PM. This was slyly, and implicitly (if not explicitly) admitted by our great ex-PM himself, Tun Dr Mahathir (EITHER you get Indian support OR Malay support, remember?).
So Indians are expected to see S. Subramaniam next, when Samy Vellu leaves. So what has changed? Besides making Subra less richer, NOTHING.
courtesy of tides of change
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