Five ministers, five deputy ministers take oath of office

KUALA LUMPUR: Five new ministers and five new deputy ministers were today sworn in before the Yang di-Pertuan Agong Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri'ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah at Istana Negara here.

Present at the ceremony of taking the oath of office, loyalty and secrecy as well as the presentation of appointment letter was the Raja Permaisuri Agong Tunku Azizah Aminah Maimunah Iskandariah.

The Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and wife, Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail were also present to witness the ceremony. Also witnessing the ceremony was Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.

At the ceremony, the ministers were divided into two groups with the first group led by Kuala Selangor MP Datuk Seri Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad who returned to head the Health Ministry followed by Damansara MP Gobind Singh Deo (Digital Minister) and Bukit Mertajam MP Sim Chee Keong (Human Resources Minister).

The second group comprised Titiwangsa MP Datuk Seri Johari Abdul Ghani (Plantation and Commodities Minister) as well as Senator Datuk Seri Amir Hamzah Azizan (Finance Minister II).

Apart from that, first group of deputy ministers consisted of Parit Sulong MP Datuk Seri Dr Noraini Ahmad (Deputy Minister of Women, Family and Community Development), Ipoh Barat MP M. Kulasegaran (Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (Law and Institutional Reform) as well as Sungai Buloh MP Datuk Ramanan Ramakrishnan (Entrepreneur Development and Cooperatives Deputy Minister).

The second group comprised Senator Dr Zulkifli Hasan who was appointed Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (Religious Affairs) as well as Taiping MP Wong Kah Woh (Deputy Education Minister).

All of them took the oath of office and loyalty before signing the official appointment document witnessed by Chief Justice Tun Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat and Chief Secretary to the Government Tan Sri Mohd Zuki Ali.

The ministers and deputy ministers took their oath of office today following a Cabinet reshuffle announcement by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim at a media conference in Putrajaya this morning.

-- BERNAMA