The curious case of four missing Cabinet ministers in Malaysia

Rather than a crisis of governance, the situation presents a political opportunity for Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim.

- Shannon Teoh

When Trade Minister Tengku Zafrul Aziz leaves Malaysia’s Cabinet on Dec 2, he will be the fourth to do so since May, with none replaced by Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim so far.

These vacancies span weighty portfolios - Economy, Natural Resources and Environmental Sustainability, Entrepreneur Development and Cooperatives, as well as Investment, Trade and Industry - which underscore the incredible strain the alliances that underpin Datuk Seri Anwar’s unity government have come under in recent months.

Datuk Seri Zafrul’s exit is inevitable, given his three-year senatorship is expiring and this being his second term, making him ineligible for an extension.

By contrast, the three earlier departures were political: two ministers had resigned after losing internal party elections, while a third quit. All three have become backbenchers openly critical of government policy.

It all started in May, when Economy Minister Rafizi Ramli and Natural Resources and Environmental Sustainability Minister Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad stepped down after vowing to resign if they lost ahead of the 2025 leadership polls of their party, Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR).

That internal turnover highlighted instead the shallow bench strength within PKR, the Prime Minister’s own party. Notably, no prominent figure from new deputy president Nurul Izzah Anwar’s slate was promoted into Cabinet. This partially stemmed from a desire to mitigate already damaging criticism of nepotism plaguing the campaign of Mr Anwar’s daughter against Mr Rafizi.

PKR's new vice-president Ramanan Ramakrishnan also had to bat away allegations of money politics during his campaign which ousted incumbent Nik Nazmi.

So instead, Mr Anwar elected for a stopgap measure - making existing Cabinet members from outside his party acting ministers.