KUALA LUMPUR – The apparent lack of Tamil representatives in Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s reshuffled cabinet is no cause for concern, said newly-minted Digital Minister Gobind Singh Deo.
At a press conference at DAP’s headquarters, here, today, Gobind said the cabinet line-up is more than capable of addressing issues faced by citizens of all walks of life.
“I don’t think this is going to be an issue. Rest assured, not just me, but all leaders in the unity government are well aware of problems that exist (among the local population).
“We have many leaders from all segments of society who continuously remain informed of problems (faced by society). As we’ve always done, we’ll discuss these problems and find recommendations on how to solve them,” added Gobind, who is also DAP deputy chairman.
He was answering a question about the lack of Tamil ministers following V. Sivakumar’s removal as human resources minister. Bukit Mertajam MP Steven Sim, also from DAP, was appointed to the post, which has traditionally been given to an Indian lawmaker.
Other Indian representatives in the government administration are deputy ministers, namely M. Kulasegaran (Prime Minister’s Department (Law and Institutional Reform), K. Saraswathy (Unity Ministry), and Datuk R. Ramanan (Entrepreneur and Cooperatives Development Ministry).
About 6.6% of Malaysia’s population is ethnic Indian, and the community has been represented in past government administrations by MIC, a component of Barisal Nasional. The post of human resources was usually reserved for MIC lawmakers and was given to DAP’s Kulasegaran when Pakatan Harapan was the federal government from 2018 to 2020.
In the reshuffle today, Kulasegaran replaced Ramkarpal Singh, who, according to DAP secretary-general Anthony Loke, had stepped down of his own volition so that the issue of nepotism would not arise since his brother, Gobind, was appointed as a minister.
“Since they are brothers, Ramkarpal felt that it was unsuitable for siblings to serve under the same cabinet as a minister and deputy minister.
“I’d like to thank Ramkarpal for his sacrifice, which will not allow party critics to accuse us of practicing nepotism,” Loke said at the press conference today.
Ramkarpal and Gobind are the sons of the late Karpal Singh, who was DAP chairman.
On his new portfolio at the Digital Ministry, Gobind today said he would meet with Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil tomorrow on the assignment of government agencies to the respective ministries.
A press conference will be held later to inform the public of the separation of tasks between the ministries.
The Digital Ministry is a newly established ministry carved out from the previous Communications and Digital Ministry, which was previously led by Fahmi.
Gobind had served as communications and multimedia minister during Pakatan Harapan’s first stint in the federal government from 2018 to 2020. – December 12, 2023