Cabinet Committees To Be Trimmed

Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said today the number of cabinet committees will be trimmed to smoothen the administration and ensure that all matters discussed are implemented.

He said that at his meeting with Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak a few days ago they agreed that the committees be grouped in clusters, for example, economy would be under one cluster and social matters under another.

Each week the ministers would have to attend up to four cabinet committee meetings, he told reporters after handing over the duties of International Trade and Industry minister to Datuk Mustapa Mohamed.

"There are many cabinet committees and all of them are important. We also have other matters that we have to implement for the country," he said.

He said some of the committees would be chaired by him and the rest by Najib.

Earlier, at a special meeting with the officers and staff of the International Trade and Industry Ministry (MITI), Muhyiddin said there were now 30 to 40 cabinet committees.

He said although MITI had only 3,000 staff compared with some ministries which had more, he was confident that they were capable of discharging their duties professionally and well.

He said the government had drawn up pro-business policies which required the ministry to work to ensure that all the initiatives taken or to be taken continued to develop in the worst economic gloom in 80 years.

"MITI's role and responsibility are challenging and the initiatives taken by the government and the PM in the RM67 billion economic stimulus package must be implemented so that the economy does not slum that badly," he said.

He said MITI must take swift action and be brave and effective in allaying the concerns of the private sector, chambers of commerce and small-and-medium scale industries so that this group was not burdened by the economic recession.

-BERNAMA