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It is a pity that, despite being described as a safe pair of hands and the son of an ulamak , Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's approval rating has not improved much since he took over from Dr Mahathir four years ago with that great promise of fighting corruption, abuse of power and so on.

Of course among the hand-kissing Umno leaders, his popularity and that of the son-in-law, have zoomed sky high. But like everything else in this world, man can only plan but at the end of the day it is Allah who decides. In any leadership, the popularity of the leader, will, to a large extent, depend on the integrity and performance of his ministers.

In Abdullah case, the antics of Information Minister Zainuddin Maidin (Zam) and Minister at the Prime Minister's Department Mohd Nazri Abdul Aziz are becoming more of a liability than an asset. They are not helping at all to improve the government's standing in the eyes of the informed rakyat. Both ministers have developed a great tendency to shoot their mouths, which more often than not, embarrasses the government and lands mud on their faces.

Furthermore, very often they project themselves to be more intolerant and right-wing than Abdullah himself, a reflection of their own intellectual immaturity. They seem to act like Bush, "You are either with us or against us."

In light of the recent "illegal" public rally , Zam, when asked by Al Jazeera for his comment, had nothing but rants and accusations that the Qatar-owned international TV news station of were being anti-Malaysia. His ranting went on and on, not allowing the TV station's journalist to ask him simple questions like; Isn't demonstrations part of a democracy, especially in a country like Malaysia where the main newspapers and all the TV stations are either owned by the ruling parties or the government?

As information minister, Zam should be brave enough to demand a studio dialogue with members of Bersih or the opposition. If Zam has failed to grasp this opportunity to improve the government's image then he is only bringing the government into disrepute. Nazri, on the other hand, have also caused much embarrassment to the government with his ill-informed statements and misplaced arrogance.

In a Westminster-style cabinet government, there are times the prime minister will throw his cabinet colleagues "to the wolves", that is to say, to the opposition and the media for their stupid statements or behaviour. This is what Abdullah should do.

Kelantan Menteri Besar Nik Aziz, who has shown that in some situations he can do business with Abdullah, has asked the prime minister to replace Zam as information minister because, according to him, RTM news had unjustly repeated stories and pictures of him after he was questioned about corruption. Clearly Zam and Nazri are falling short of their stature as government ministers and Abdullah should seriously consider getting rid of this duo and consigned them to the rank of gasbags among the backbenchers.

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