Prime Minister Najib Razak has denied that there will be another cabinet reshuffle at the year end as rumoured among political circles.

He said the current cabinet was still new and formed only seven months ago when he became prime minister.

"If there are too frequent cabinet reshuffles, it will affect the work being carried out by the ministers, hence impacting the smooth running of the government administration."

Najib said this to reporters after presenting prizes to the winners of a badminton competition in conjunction with the annual programme of wives of elected BN representatives in Seremban today.

"I've not thought about it... a cabinet reshuffle can be done anytime but at the moment we don't need to as the present cabinet is still new," he said.

Najib, however, indicated that there might be a slight reshuffle involving deputy ministers.

"There are some matters at the deputy ministerial level that I need to look at in detail," he said.

Wives club emerges champion

He did not elaborate on this but his cabinet will lose one deputy minister when Deputy Tourism Minister Sulaiman Abdul Rahman Abdul Taib has indicated his intention to resign from the post.

Najib said although reshuffling the cabinet was the prerogative of the prime minister, it must not be done at whim, but for the good or betterment of the government administration.

He said he did not foresee a cabinet reshuffle in the immediate future.

In the badminton competition, the Welfare Body of Wives of Ministers and Deputy Ministers (Bakti) emerged the champion, with the Welfare Body of the Wives of Sabah Elected Representatives the runner-up, and Baiduri, their Perak counterpart, in third spot.

- Bernama