I refer to the Malaysiakini report PM unveils 'trimmed-down' cabinet .

A lot has been made about race politics or rather its withering. This is supposed to be the consequence of the way Malaysians voted in the 12 ^th general elections. The government, apparently, has woken up to a new reality. A sea-change is said to have occurred.

Yet the BN continues to reward its race-based parties. MCA retains nearly all its ministerships. The MIC also retained its sole minister in the cabinet. The BN realises that it needs to bolster these component parties with ministerial positions if they are to remain relevant, at least, as

social welfare organisations.

The mainstream media calls this new cabinet ‘a mixture of old and new’. The BN calls it a symbol of their commitment to Malaysia's ethnic groups. This is a cabinet of conciliation, its tone is humble. At least, that was how Muhammad Muhammad Taib, a senator appointed to the cabinet, presented himself.

But what does the withering of race politics mean? It is not represented in the sudden demise of race-based parties like Umno, MCA or MIC but rather the slow death of a way of thinking that for so long held them together. In popular parlance, we are in the midst of a shift of paradigm where race-based parties suddenly seem anachronistic.

For this reason, it is difficult to find the new cabinet inspiring. It is more significant for those left out rather than for those included. If it is suppose to restore public confidence but it has achieved only half of this objective.

Shahrir Samad and Zaid Ibrahim are the only two cabinet ministers with a good track record for independent thinking and courage in the face of adversity. Now, Shahrir has the unenviable task of making sure prices of goods remain stable and he will have a tough time with a US recession on the horizon.

Zaid Ibrahim is tasked with restoring public confidence in the judiciary. After the revelations of the judicial commission investigating the Lingam tape scandal, this will be a difficult task. But he will have to address the root cause of poor public perception of the judiciary. For too long, the judiciary has been subservient to the executive. His real task is to restore the judiciary to its rightful place. He may have the political will but does the BN have the political stomach for such radical change?

After an electoral beating where the coalition came near defeat, this new cabinet has a lot of work to do. It needs to reconnect with the people. But before it can do that, it need to wake up to new realities.

In the next few months, Malaysians (including politicians) will begin to realise two things. It will be impossible to go back to business-as-usual and secondly, that this new experience will be unnerving. Those with heart problems might want to consider milder climes.

When Abdullah Ahmad Badawi announced that his entire cabinet will be declaring their assets, he was responding to the pledges of five non-BN state governments. Now, it will be impossible for all other state governments to avoid similar action.

If the five non-BN state governments begin to practice an ‘open tender’ system, then it would not be possible for the federal government or the BN state governments not to do the same.

When the five non-BN state governments begin to make known details of the public contracts made on behalf of the people by their BN predecessors, it will only be a matter of time before the BN leadership follows suit.

The race has begun. The non-BN state governments will need at least a year to find their feet and in that time, they will have to keep the people informed about what has been going on in the past. They will inevitably falter as they learn to administer the state. This frustration will be measured against the many points they are going to score by being transparent. In all these moves, Malaysia comes first - not Malays, Chinese, Indians, Ibans etc.

Thus the biggest job of the Abdullah cabinet is to somehow survive the battering from the various revelations that are bound to happen. If the new cabinet resort to any heavy-handed methods like the OSA or the ISA to stop these revelations, they will be faced with public frustration. Malaysians have tasted the power of the vote and they know that the BN was within 60,000 votes of losing power altogether!

Malaysians now have to decide whether to give the BN a chance to pick itself up. But the first gesture must come from the new cabinet. There are two pressing cases that will be regarded as test cases. The first is the Lingam tape scandal and the second is the Altantuya murder trial. How they are concluded will be a yardstick to gauge BN's commitment to change.

Finally, will the mantra of power sharing between the races a la BN still resonate with the public? If BN survives all the revelations and successfully resurrects an independent judiciary, it may win back some Malaysians who voted against them. But by that time, the BN itself would have changed. Changed sufficiently to make chauvinist elements and race-based politics no longer relevant.