Cabinet size should be at least 25 per cent of the number of MPs - Analyst

KUALA LUMPUR - Malaysia is still unprepared to form a Cabinet as small as 15 per cent of the total of MPs as what is done in United Kingdom (UK) and India.

However, as a start towards the reformation process, political analyst Professor Wong Chin Huat believed that 25 per cent or 55 people out of the 222 MPs appointed was a good size.

The rest of the MPs, he said, could play the role to check and balance so that the government was always in a state of awareness to function efficiently.

"If we apply that 15 per cent (like the UK and India), this meant that we can only have 33 people among all the members in the administration, I think Malaysia is not prepared for it however, we must have a clear limit.

"If everyone became a minister, they can't criticise the government anymore. So that is important," he said in the Awani Agenda programme on Monday.

He said looking at UK's experience, they had 650 MPs but the total ministers were not more than 93.

It was the same in India where its constitution stated clearly that the total MPs elected as ministers could not be more than 15 per cent.

Wong was confident that 55 Ministers from the total MPs including the Dewan Negara Senator was enough, looking at the same size during the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government post-14th General Election (GE14) four years ago.

"When the number of ministers lessens, the coordination becomes better," he said. - AWANI