Malaysia's new Cabinet sworn in

Malaysia's new Cabinet sworn in

Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's government was sworn into
power on Tuesday, capping his landslide election victory over the
fundamentalist Islamic opposition and completing Malaysia's
transition to its first new administration in two decades.

But the Cabinet has many holdovers from predecessor Mahathir
Mohamad's government, prompting criticism that Abdullah's pre-
election promise to clean up corruption was false, and that he's
protecting his party's old guard ahead of internal party
elections.

Seventy-one ministers - 33 Cabinet members and 38 deputies -
took a pledge of office before King Syed Sirajuddin Syed Putra
Jamalullail at the National Palace in Kuala Lumpur. The Cabinet
was due to meet for the first time on Wednesday.

Abdullah is retaining the key posts of finance and home
minister, responsible for domestic security. His deputy, Najib
Razak, is still defense minister. Syed Hamid Albar keeps foreign
affairs, and Rafidah Aziz stays on as international trade
minister.

Abdullah split some ministries and added new posts, mostly to
reflect his emphasis on rural development rather than the grand
schemes favored by Mahathir, who handed power to Abdullah last
October when he retired after a 22-year reign.

Abdullah has promised cleaner, more efficient government than
that of the Mahathir era, which was plagued by widespread
perceptions of cronyism and corruption.

But opposition leader Lim Kit Siang said Abdullah had already
undermined that vow by appointing a Cabinet that's "bloated and
smacks too strongly of jobs for the boys and girls" - an apparent
reference to giving the best posts to ruling party stalwarts.
--AP