Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak announced a 28-member Cabinet with 25 ministries that saw eight ministers dropped and seven new faces appointed.

Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, who won the Umno deputy presidency in last month’s party elections, was appointed Deputy Prime Minister and Education Minister.

Najib, who took his oath of office as the new prime minister on April 3, also retained the finance portfolio which he has held since Sept 19 last year following the portfolio swap between him and former premier Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi at that time.

Najib’s Cabinet is slightly smaller than his predecessor’s 32 ministers and 27 ministries.

The new cabinet line-up;
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Popularity: 5% [?]

Technorati Tags: cabinet, minister, najib tun razak, prime minister

Najib Razak was sworn in as Malaysia’s sixth prime minister Friday, assuming charge of reuniting the fractured ruling party and steering the nation through the global economic downturn.

He took the oath of office in front of the Malaysian king at a ceremony at the palace broadcast live on national television.

The planned transfer of power follows the resignation Thursday of Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, who analysts say failed to live up to his promises during six unremarkable years in office.

“I, Najib Razak, who has been chosen to hold the post of prime minister, swear that I will carry out the responsibilities which I have been entrusted with to the best of my ability” the 55-year-old said.

“I will be true to Malaysia and will defend and uphold the constitution.”
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Popularity: 5% [?]

Technorati Tags: malaysia, najib, najib tun razak, prime minister, sworn

Malaysia’s former premier Mahathir Mohamad said Saturday he will rejoin the ruling party UMNO which he quit last year after falling out with his successor Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

Mahathir, who spent more than two decades in power, hand-picked Abdullah to replace him 2003 but was enraged by the new leader’s decision to dismantle several of his pet projects.

Mahathir publicly campaigned for his ouster after disastrous elections a year ago. Abdullah eventually agreed to stand down and is expected to hand power to his deputy Najib Razak in the next few days.

“I will rejoin UMNO. When — I will tell you later,” Mahathir told reporters during a surprise visit to the closing session of the party’s five-day annual congress.
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Popularity: 4% [?]

Technorati Tags: mahathir, najib tun razak, rejoin, umno

Malaysia’s incoming prime minister signaled radical reforms in the ruling party, warning Tuesday that failure to end deep-rooted corruption and politics of patronage would sound its death knell.

Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak, who will take over the country’s leadership next week, said the United Malays National Organization party should learn from its humbling losses in last year’s general elections.

“What is at stake is nothing less than the very fate of” the party, Najib said in a hard-hitting and candid speech to open the party’s annual congress, which over the next five days will conduct the biggest revamp of leadership in decades.

The party “must learn from the message” given by voters last year, Najib, 55, said. “If we do not heed this message, their seething anger will become hatred and in the end this may cause them to abandon us altogether.”
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Popularity: 4% [?]

Technorati Tags: annual congress, assembly, najib tun razak, speech, umno

Political analyst Abdul Razak Baginda said today that Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak had never met his Mongolian lover Altantuya Shaariibuu who was brutally murdered two years ago.

“I know that Najib and his wife had never met the deceased Altantuya,” Abdul Razak told a packed press conference at a hotel here today and pleaded for the media and the public to stop spreading “lies about Datuk Seri Najib Razak and his wife.”

He said that those who have slandered the Deputy Prime Minister and Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor can “never produce authentic evidence because there is none.”
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Popularity: 9% [?]

Technorati Tags: altantuya shaaribuu, najib tun razak, razak baginda, statement

DAP parliamentary leader Lim Kit Siang wondered aloud yesterday as to how both the Prime Minister and his deputy could be out of the country this week.

“Why is the 30-year standing rule or of longer vintage that both the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister should not be out of the country at the same time being broken this week?” he said at a press conference in Parliament yesterday.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi is Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 9% [?]

Technorati Tags: abdullah ahmad badawi, away, deputy prime minister, najib tun razak, prime minister

Political analyst Abdul Razak Baginda was today acquitted by the High Court here of abetting in the murder of Mongolian national Altantuya Shaariibuu.

Chief Inspector Azilah Hadri, 32, and Corporal Sirul Azha Umar, 37, who are members of the police Special Action Force (UTK), were, however, ordered to enter their defence to the charge of murder.

The prosecution is expected to file an appeal against Razak’s acquittal.

Altantuya was allegedly shot before her body was blown up with explosives two years ago.

Azilah and Sirul are jointly charged with murdering Altantuya, 28, at a location in Mukim Bukit Raja, Selangor between 10am on Oct 19, 2006 and 1am the following day.
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Popularity: 11% [?]

Technorati Tags: abdul razak baginda, acquitted, altantuya, altantuya shaaribuu, high court, mongolian, murder, najib tun razak, razak baginda

PKR Youth leader Badrul Hisham Shaharin led a group of five people in lodging a police report today against Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak for corruption.

The group claimed they provided the police with evidence in connection with a number of deals to procure military equipment while Najib was Defence Minister.

Najib has been at the brunt of a series of allegations since he became the front-runner to succeed Datuk Seri Abdullah Badawi as Umno president and Prime Minister.

Allegations of impropriety have surfaced over the proposed acquisition of Eurocopter helicopters for RM2.3 billion and the RM4.6 billion Scorpene submarines deal.
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Popularity: 8% [?]

Technorati Tags: altantuya shaaribuu, badrul hisham, corruption, eurocopter, najib tun razak, police report, sms

The attacks over the Internet on Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak continue to mount.

Just days after allegations surfaced on jailed blogger Raja Petra Kamarudin’s website Malaysia Today over alleged interference in the Altantuya Shaariibuu murder investigations, more claims have surfaced on the same website over allegedly shady defence deals.

In the latest posting entitled “Eurocopter”, a letter purportedly from Datuk Zahar Hashim, the chairman of Mentari Services Sdn Bhd, the local representatives for a Russian helicopter company, alleges irregularities in the recent award to Eurocopter for the supply of 12 new aircraft to replace the ageing Nuri fleet of the Royal Malaysian Air Force.
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Popularity: 12% [?]

Technorati Tags: altantuya shaaribuu, eurocopter, malaysia today, najib tun razak, sms, text message