Malaysia Has A New Cabinet, So Does Singapore!

Right after the 8th March General Elections in Malaysia, the next most sought after event was the cabinet line up. It came, it went, and it's still going.

Anyway, across the causeway, Singapore also has just announced its new cabinet line up. The press did build it up a bit, asking to look out for some changes - notably a woman Minister & also Fresh faces, who will be amongst the people to carry the new PM post in the future.

Let's take a look at the differences between the 2 neighbouring countries' cabinets.

1. Singapore has a post named MM (Minister Mentor held by founding father - Lee Kuan Yew).
Malaysia's MM is named after a person (Dr Mahathir Mohammad) and no longer is in cabinet.

2. Singapore has SM (Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong). This post was previously held by Lee Kuan Yew before he got promoted to MM. That means, Singapore has 3 PMs in the cabinet - 2 previous and 1 current, Lee Hsien Loong.

Malaysia's highest post is PM held by Dato' Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi. However, Malaysia used to have DM- Dr. M, who is still in the party, but no longer carries any cabinet posts.

3. Singapore has 2 DPMs - PS. Jayakumar & Wong Kan Seng.
Malaysia only has 1 DPM - Dato' Seri Najib Tun Razak.

4. Singapore has 20 Cabinet positions (including MM, SM and excluding Minister of States).
Malaysia's newer & trimmer cabinet has 27 (previously 32).

5. Minister at PM Office - Singapore: 2, Malaysia: 5.

6. Not racist here, but just to point out:
Singapore has 4 Indian, 1 Malay, and the rest Chinese (excluding Ministers of State).
Malaysia has 4 Chinese, 1 Indian and the rest Malays & others.

7. Malaysia has women minister - for a long time now. Most notably Rafidah Aziz (who is no longer in the current cabinet).
Singapore: soon to come, still not yet.

:)