The mountains roared, and out jumped a mouse. This is the best description one can put on the cabinet reshuffle Dr Mahathir Mohamad announced yesterday, a few hours before he left for Japan. His earlier plans for a major reshuffle took a back seat when he realised that those dropped still had much ground support and could well move towards Umno's challengers.

But if they retained them, his new cabinet would bring the government down by inertia. He did not really "reshuffle" his cabinet. He is, in other words, worse off either way.

He created one new ministry, appointed two new ministers, two deputy ministers, one parliamentary secretary, dropped no one nor reshuffled portfolios. The new faces are all Senators. The Umno anger at Musa Mohamad, then not an Umno member, appointed education minister after the 1999 general elections can only increase.

The deputy minister in the prime minister's department, Shahrizat Abdul Jalil, is promoted to the newly created Women's Affairs Ministry. Of the new appointees, she is the only elected representative. The director-general of Islamic Development Department (Jakim), Abdul Hamid Zainal Abidin, a retired brigadier-general who was chief imam of the armed forces, succeeds Abdul Hamid Othman, who had resigned recently.

Twin concerns

This reflects the twin concerns the Prime Minister has to wean declining support. The last election showed, especially in Kelantan and Kedah, that women turned the tide against the Barisan Nasional. Which is why he formed Puteri Umno, and now creates a women's affairs ministry.

Islam is the other contentious issue. Mahathir still believes in confronting PAS, despite the forthcoming talks on Malay unity, and Abdul Hamid is known for that. He would have preferred the mufti of Johor, but he could not obviously get him to come. Abdul Hamid so defends his turf that it angers the congregation at the National Mosque that worshipers leave the prayer hall when he rises, as occasionally, to deliver the khutbah .

This raises an even more contentious issue: should Islam be confronted, as now, between the forces of Umno and the forces of PAS, or should it be viewed in context with both joining hands to making Islam the religion of the land by acclamation? Abdul Hamid's appointment, for which he becomes a senator, would only grate.

'Zam' deserves better

The two new deputy ministers and one parliamentary secretary, all Senators, are the Umno Federal Territory liaison head, Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor, who becomes deputy minister in the prime minister's department; the People's Progressive Party president M Kayveas as deputy minister of housing and local government; the former Utusan Malaysia editor-in-chief Zainuddin Maidin as parliamentary secretary in the information ministry.

As a journalist, I am appalled that Zam, as he is popularly known, took the job. As editor-in-chief, he is equal to the best in the land, now he is a minor cog in a big wheel. Besides, how important a role would he play in this role? Or is it a reward for political loyalty? He is good man, and should have been entrusted higher office. He would have been a far better minister than many we have.

This cabinet evinces no major policy changes. If anything, it reduces Mahathir's effectiveness as leader. It would seem, looking at the new list, that the minimal changes is to make it easier for the deputy prime minister, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, to strengthen his forces. He is already under pressure from the Umno ground as successor because he is an unelected deputy president of Umno.

This would not have mattered at other times. It is crucial now. This cabinet reshuffle should have gone beyond the sandiwara it is. The guessing game of major changes - the mountains roaring - to what is the mouse, could be high drama. But it is not.

Big yawn

The superciliousness with which Mahathir treated the changes did not work this time. The general reaction this morning is one big yawn. But what happens now is more serious: little change in policy or attitudes while scurrying behind the scenes to stop the leaks that occur.

Mahathir did not make the changes he should have to give him a fighting chance to return to the Malay mainstream. Curiously, what this envisions is his earlier than expected retirement. If he now stays on too long, it would all but neuter his chosen successor, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi. Even if he does not, the pressure for an elected Umno president could be one either could refuse.

On balance, the changes are not one which would strengthen him, the cabinet, the BN, or his successor, whoever he is. Unless it takes immediate steps, which it would not, to ensure the Anwar Ibrahim affair is settled to the demands of the Malay cultural ground.