Undergoing Quarantine After Contact With COVID-19 Patients, Malaysian Prime Minister Sabri Yaakob Cannot Participate In Cabinet Inauguration

Prime Minister of Malaysia Ismail Sabri Yaakob. (Wikimedia Commons/Sophie ds15)

JAKARTA - The Prime Minister of Malaysia Sabri Yaakob must be willing not to participate in the inauguration of his cabinet because he has to undergo quarantine due to contact with COVID -19 patients.

This is known through a statement from the Office of the Prime Minister of Malaysia. The appointment of Malaysia's new cabinet was held today by the King of Malaysia.

"The prime minister will not attend the handing over of appointment letters and the inauguration ceremony of federal ministers and deputy ministers before King Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri'ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Syah this afternoon", the Malaysian Prime Minister's Office quoted CNA as saying on Monday, August 30.

The statement added that the Malaysian Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob will participate in the National Day celebration in Putrajaya on Tuesday 31 August tomorrow virtually.

Before PM Sabri Yaakob, Deputy Minister of Education Mohamad Alamin had previously stated that he could not attend the inauguration ceremony because he was positively infected with COVID-19.

The newly appointed Malaysian cabinet appeared before the King of Malaysia at the national palace in a ceremony on Monday, a day before the country's 64th National Day. In total, there will be 31 ministers and 38 deputy ministers led by PM Sabri Yaakob.

In this cabinet, there are four senior ministers to replace the deputy prime minister, namely Mohamed Azmin Ali from Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu), Hishammuddin Hussein from United Malays National Organization (UMNO), Senator Mohd Radzi Md Jidin from Bersatu, and Fadillah Yusof from Gabungan Sarawak Party (GPS).

PM Sabri Yaakob's cabinet is largely the same as the previous government under PM Muhyiddin Yassin of Bersatu, who resigned after losing majority support following the withdrawal of support from a number of UMNO lawmakers.

For the record, when announcing the composition of his cabinet, PM Sabri Yaakob emphasized the high-performance culture of each ministry, as well as having an initial achievement target in the first 100 working days.

"Every ministry needs to make short -term and long-term planning and achieve targets. For that, each ministry needs to prove its initial achievements in the first 100 days", said PM Sabri Yaakob.