Opposition parties DAP and Keadilan today expressed disappointment with the Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's new cabinet.

DAP chairperson Lim Kit Siang said the line up had failed to live up to the reputation of being a cabinet with integrity.

"This is so with the retention of four ministers who have not been able to clear themselves of the taint of corruption or serious allegations of abuses of power and malpractices," he said in a statement.

The four ministers he referred to are Rafidah Aziz, who retained her international trade and industry ministry, S Samy Vellu (retained his works ministry), Ong Ka Ting (retained his housing and local government ministry) and Mohd Nazri Aziz (moved from entrepreneur development ministry to the Prime Minister's Department).

"If integrity and the perception of integrity are among the indispensable criteria for the selection of cabinet ministers, then the first Abdullah cabinet has failed the acid test," he added.

Lim, who won the Ipoh Timor parliamentary seat in the recently concluded general election, said that the premier had failed to keep his pledge of a clean, incorruptible and trustworthy government.

Horse trading

The opposition leader said that Abdullah-led Barisan Nasional had confessed in a pre-election media campaign that this government was "corrupt and rotten to the very corewith no aspect of life untainted by corruption" and that only Abdullah could clean up the system.

Such being the case, Lim said, the prime minister should not have then re-appointed any minister who had been tainted by corruption allegations or abuse of power.

Lim also speculated that Abdullah could have been delayed in making his announcement this morning - he was 90 minutes late - as a result of "intense pressure and horse-trading to influence the cabinet selection well past the deadline".

On a brighter note, Lim said that his party welcomed the establishment of a new ministry for higher education.

The education ministry is divided into two now with the education portfolio being helmed by Hishammuddin Hussein while the higher education ministry by Mohd Shafie Salleh.

Lim also said that Abdullah's decision to hold on to the finance ministry and the revamped home affairs ministry raised questions if there was a lack of qualified or reliable leaders to take a burden off him.

He also said that the Chinese-based MCA was being marginalised in the BN power structure when the party's chief Ong was asked to retain the lightweight housing and local government ministry.

Worse still, said Lim, was the plight of MCA youth leader Ong Tee Keat who has to continue serving as deputy youth and sports minister under newcomer Azalina Othman, who is the Puteri Umno leader.

Criminal links

Meanwhile Parti Keadilan Rakyat (Keadilan) deputy president Dr Syed Husin Ali said the cabinet line-up gave the impression that Abdullah had failed to move away from the influence of former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

He also accused Abdullah of acting similarly to Mahathir by holding on to important portfolios such as the finance ministry and home ministry.

"He has also re-appointed some senior ministers who are tainted by allegations of corruption and abuse of power," he said in a statement.

Syed Husin added that Abdullah had also allowed persons with known links to the criminal world into the cabinet.