DAP leader Lim Kit Siang today denounced several new appointments to the cabinet by Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad as an "unprecedented abuse of power" and "waste of public funds".

Lim was referring to three recent changes in the cabinet involving the appointment of Dr Jamaluddin Jarjis as the second Finance Minister; and the promotions of Zainuddin Maidin from the post of parliamentary secretary to deputy information minister; and Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor from the post of deputy minister to minister in the prime minister's department respectively.

"Before the appointment of Jamaluddin and Adnan to expand the cabinet strength to 29 ministers, Malaysia already has the biggest cabinet in the Commonwealth Parliament in terms of population," he said in a press statement.

"Mahathir should (instead) set a good example of public austerity with a reshuffle to ensure that the cabinet does not increase taxpayers' burden. Taxpayers are also entitled to know why they should foot the bill for an unprecedented fourth minister in the prime minister's department," he added.

Last week, Mahathir announced the new appointments after securing the consent of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong. The mini-reshuffling has been described by some analysts to be Mahathir's preparation for his retirement next year.

Zam "greater waste" of funds

Lim raised issue with the appointment of Adnan as this is the first time that a Malaysian prime minister has appointed four ministers to assist him in the prime minister's department.

"Never before in the 45-year history of Malaysia has there been a quartet of ministers appointed in the prime minister's department.

"What is the rational and justification, apart from "jobs for the boys" and packing the Cabinet with more of his loyalists before he (Mahathir) steps down next October?" he questioned, while pointing out that Adnan would be joining three other ministers Dr Rais Yatim, Bernard Dompok and Senator Abdul Hamid Zainal Abidin.

In addition, Lim said that the additional deputy minister role created for Zainuddin (photo) in the information ministry is another first in the country's history.

"Again, never before in Malaysian government history has there been two deputy ministers appointed for the information ministry which ranks among the dozen less important ministries, whether in terms of functions or annual budgetary allocations," he stressed.

Lim criticised Zainuddin's appointment as being a "greater waste of public funds" since there is already an incumbent deputy minister (Khalid Yunus).

Propaganda poison

Lim said 12 out of a total of 23 ministries are considered important ministries with budget allocations exceeding RM2 billion.

These include the education ministry, with the highest allocation of RM26.3 billion followed by the finance and defence ministries at RM9.1 billion and RM8.2 billion respectively.

However, he said that since some of these larger ministries require only one deputy minister, there appears to be no reason why the relatively minor information ministry should have two deputy ministers.

"Why should the information ministry, which is allocated an annual budget next year of RM847 million, have two deputy ministers when only the prime ministers' department, education, home, finance and local government and housing ministries have two deputy ministers?" he asked.

Furthermore, Lim said more important ministries with bigger allocations like defence, health, public works, agriculture and rural development were served by only one deputy minister each.

"Zainuddin Maidin's appointment as deputy information minister may be important for Umno and Barisan Nasional to pump propaganda poison through the RTM and other information channels but it is clearly not in the interest of Malaysians or the nation," he said.

Among the three appointments, Jamaluddin, who was the former chairperson of Tenaga Nasional Bhd, came as the biggest surprise to the political and business community as he was not considered among the likely contenders for the spot.

However, the premier reassured reporters yesterday that he would still be in charge of the finance ministry despite Jamaluddin's appointment.

Mahathir took over the finance portfolio after Daim Zainuddin resigned in June last year.