Malaysia's premier made sweeping changes to his cabinet line-up on Tuesday, dumping his long-serving trade minister, after the ruling coalition suffered a heavy setback at elections this month.
Abdullah Ahmad Badawi retained his deputy, Najib Razak, as the defence minister, left his economic team almost intact, moved former Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar to the home ministry and scrapped some posts to reduce the size of his governing team.
The omission of Trade Minister Rafidah Aziz, a minister for almost 30 years and a senior member of the main ruling party, was the biggest surprise in the new line-up, which could shape Abdullah's political future after the election upset.
"Half (of the cabinet) will be new faces and will represent the people effectively," said Abdullah, who faces a possible test of his leadership at party elections later this year. Former farm minister Muhyiddin Yassin took the trade portfolio and Rais Yatim was named as the new foreign minister. Abdullah said the ministers would have to declare their assets, so that they were known to the public.
Party opposition to Rafidah, 64, had been growing silently following a controversy over car import licences distributed by her ministry, said political analyst Ooi Kee Beng, of the Institute of South East Asian Studies in neighbouring Singapore.
Rafidah controls a key faction in Abdullah's party, where the move to drop some party heavyweights could feed discontent already simmering over the dismal election result. Abdullah's National Front coalition suffered the biggest electoral setback in its 50-year reign on March 8, when it lost its two-thirds majority in the federal parliament and five of the country's 13 states to opposition parties.