KUCHING: The state cabinet reshuffle on Thursday was yesterday confirmed to be a prelude to a major reshuffle, which will also see the inclusion of new faces. Chief Minister Pehin Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud yesterday said he would carry out ‘a proper reshuffle’ early next year. The minor reshuffle announced earlier was only meant to assist the state government at the political level.
“We don’t have enough people to work at the political level so I put someone who can help at that level, and provide new input. The reshuffle next year will see several new faces, but not this time around,” he told reporters after launching the Sarawak Regatta and Sarawak Regatta Trade Fair 2008 at the Kuching Waterfront. Taib said he might consider splitting certain ministries like the Ministry of Urban Development and Tourism given that tourism was a major revenue earner for the state.
On Thursday, the Chief Minister’s Department announced that Dato Sri Wong Soon Koh was to take over from Datuk Michael Manyin as Minister of Environment and Public Health, while the latter takes over Wong’s position as Minister of Urban Development and Tourism. Wong is Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP) deputy secretary-general and Bawang Assan assemblyman while Manyin is PBB vice-president and Tebedu assemblyman. Wong still retains his Second Finance Minister’s post.
Simunjan assemblyman Mohd Naroden Majais who is PBB Supreme Council member has been given the post of Assistant Minister of Planning and Resource Management. Naroden retains his Assistant Minister in the Chief Minister’s Department (Bumiputera Entrepreneur Development) post but his post as Assistant Minister of Land Development is now taken over by Marudi assemblyman and Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party (SPDP) secretary-general Sylvester Entrie. Entrie now holds two portfolios as he also retains his post of Assistant Minister for Water Supply, which is now restyled to Assistant Minister for Public Utilities (Water Supply).
On July 12, Taib, who is the state Barisan Nasional chairman, told reporters that he would carry out the reshuffle after the SUPP delegates conference later this year. He reasoned that he did not want to distract the SUPP delegates in their mission to strengthen and revive their party. Meanwhile, Wong said he was looking forward to visiting all the 24 local authorities in Sarawak to familiarise himself with his new duties and responsibilities.
“My first job is to visit the 24 councils in the nearest time possible. I want to understand what the councils have done, what they are doing and what must be done,” he told reporters at the opening of Sarawak Regatta yesterday. He said during his visits, he would like to meet with the chairmen and councillors to look into areas that were influencing the people. Wong said the swap between him and Manyin was Taib’s prerogative and the new portfolio was very challenging to him. He said he would work harder.
“I will carry on with the good job left by Manyin, and two major things I want done are the introduction of independent environmental auditing and transparent system of informing the public on the councils’ collection in an itemised format,” he said. Manyin meanwhile said independent consultants had already been appointed to carry out auditing work and this would make the Environmental Impact Assessment practices in the state an independent process.
Also, with the transparent system of informing the public on the councils’ collection, people would not simply accuse the councils anymore, said Manyin, who was present with Wong during the interview. On his new job, Manyin said connectivity remained the main problem in getting more foreign tourists to visit the state.
“We don’t have enough people to work at the political level so I put someone who can help at that level, and provide new input. The reshuffle next year will see several new faces, but not this time around,” he told reporters after launching the Sarawak Regatta and Sarawak Regatta Trade Fair 2008 at the Kuching Waterfront. Taib said he might consider splitting certain ministries like the Ministry of Urban Development and Tourism given that tourism was a major revenue earner for the state.
On Thursday, the Chief Minister’s Department announced that Dato Sri Wong Soon Koh was to take over from Datuk Michael Manyin as Minister of Environment and Public Health, while the latter takes over Wong’s position as Minister of Urban Development and Tourism. Wong is Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP) deputy secretary-general and Bawang Assan assemblyman while Manyin is PBB vice-president and Tebedu assemblyman. Wong still retains his Second Finance Minister’s post.
Simunjan assemblyman Mohd Naroden Majais who is PBB Supreme Council member has been given the post of Assistant Minister of Planning and Resource Management. Naroden retains his Assistant Minister in the Chief Minister’s Department (Bumiputera Entrepreneur Development) post but his post as Assistant Minister of Land Development is now taken over by Marudi assemblyman and Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party (SPDP) secretary-general Sylvester Entrie. Entrie now holds two portfolios as he also retains his post of Assistant Minister for Water Supply, which is now restyled to Assistant Minister for Public Utilities (Water Supply).
On July 12, Taib, who is the state Barisan Nasional chairman, told reporters that he would carry out the reshuffle after the SUPP delegates conference later this year. He reasoned that he did not want to distract the SUPP delegates in their mission to strengthen and revive their party. Meanwhile, Wong said he was looking forward to visiting all the 24 local authorities in Sarawak to familiarise himself with his new duties and responsibilities.
“My first job is to visit the 24 councils in the nearest time possible. I want to understand what the councils have done, what they are doing and what must be done,” he told reporters at the opening of Sarawak Regatta yesterday. He said during his visits, he would like to meet with the chairmen and councillors to look into areas that were influencing the people. Wong said the swap between him and Manyin was Taib’s prerogative and the new portfolio was very challenging to him. He said he would work harder.
“I will carry on with the good job left by Manyin, and two major things I want done are the introduction of independent environmental auditing and transparent system of informing the public on the councils’ collection in an itemised format,” he said. Manyin meanwhile said independent consultants had already been appointed to carry out auditing work and this would make the Environmental Impact Assessment practices in the state an independent process.
Also, with the transparent system of informing the public on the councils’ collection, people would not simply accuse the councils anymore, said Manyin, who was present with Wong during the interview. On his new job, Manyin said connectivity remained the main problem in getting more foreign tourists to visit the state.
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