Ten days after regaining power with a dented majority, Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi on Tuesday unveiled his new streamlined Cabinet line-up, sans a member of the ethnic Indian community.Badawi who faced protests by the ethnic Indian community in Malaysia last year, could not induct a single face from the community in his cabinet this time as the lone ethnic Indian minister in his previous cabinet, Samy Vellu of Malaysian Indian Congress, a component of the ruling Barisan Nasional, received a drubbing in the polls along with top party bigwigs.Vellu had held his Parliamentary seat since 1974.Badawi, however, has retained one ministerial position for the Malaysian Indian Congress and four for its coalition partner, the Malaysian Chinese Association.Flaying calls for stepping down owing to party’s poor show, Badawi will continue to head the Finance portfolio.The 68-year-old prime minister announced a downsized cabinet from the earlier 90 to 68 positions, dropping seven ministers who won in the general elections and inducting several new faces.The premier said half the members of his administration were new faces and the line-up was drawn based on the spirit of power-sharing and camaraderie of the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition party.Among other ministries, Najib Tun Razak continued to be the country’s deputy premier and Defence minister.The Foreign Affairs portfolio was given to Dr Rais Yatim while Azlan Abu Bakar will be the deputy foreign minister.Among the major casualities was long-serving Minister of International Trade and Industry, Rafidah Aziz, whose place has been taken by former Agriculture and Agro-based Industries Minister Hj Muhyiddin Yassin.
