The opposition will not form its own shadow cabinet, said Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.

"Instead, we have arranged a list of opposition parliamentarians representing Umno and PAS in particular, to be in charge of certain portfolios," the opposition leader told reporters at the Parliament lobby today.

The lawmakers are given specific portfolios and they can raise other issues they are familiar with, he noted.

"There is no need (to form a shadow cabinet), we have a different way (of dealing with parliamentary affairs)," he said.

Last month, Umno secretary-general Annuar Musa was quoted saying that the opposition would unveil its shadow cabinet soon.

When pressed further the need for a shadow prime minister and a shadow ministerial line-up, Zahid stressed that he has never mentioned shadow cabinet.

"That would be a delusional cabinet (kabinet angan-angan)," he quipped.  

Shadow cabinet is a platform for the opposition to name its senior group of spokespersons to form an alternative cabinet to the government.

BN now controls 54 parliamentary seats out of 222.

There were demands for Pakatan Harapan and its predecessor, Pakatan Rakyat, to set up their own shadow cabinets during the previous administration under BN.