All The CM's Men

Members of the new Sabah State Cabinet in a group photograph after Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Aman announced their portfolios at a news conference at his official residence Sri Gaya in Kota Kinabalu on Friday. Front row from left are Deputy Chief Minister and Minister for Rural Development, Datuk Seri Panglima Joseph Pairin Kitingan; Musa; Deputy Chief Minister and Minister for Agriculture and Food-based Industries, Datuk Seri Panglima Yahya Hussin; and Deputy Chief Minister and Minister for Infrastructure Development, Datuk Raymond Tan.

Backrow from left are Local Government and Housing Minister, Datuk Hj Hajiji Hj Noor; Minister for Tourism, Culture and Environment, Datuk Masidi Manjun; Minister in the Chief Minister's Office, Datuk Nasir Tun Sakaran; Minister for Industrial Development, Datuk Ewon Ebin; Minister for Resource Development & IT Advancement, Datuk Dr Yee Moh Chai; Minister for Community Development & Consumer Affairs, Datuk Azizah Datuk Dun; and Minister for Youth & Sports, Peter Pang.

The Ministers earlier took their oath-of-office in front of the Sabah Head of State (Governor) at the Istana. Musa himself, who doubles as Finance Minister, took his last Sunday, a day after leading the State ruling coalition BN into another election victory in Malaysia's 12th general election. It was a repeat of the 2004 election result for Sabah BN when it won 59 out of the 60 State Legislative Assembly seats up for grabs.

Azizah and Peter are new faces; with the former replacing former Agriculture Minister representing UMNO Datuk Rahim Ismail and the latter replacing former Youth & Sports Minister Datuk Liew Yun Fah of LDP who did not contest in the election.

14 Assistant Ministers also took their oath-of-office at the Istana on Friday. Four more will be sworn-in soon. For the full list please refer to my postings under the heading "The New Sabah Cabinet" and "Four More Assistant Ministers for Sabah" yesterday.

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