KUALA LUMPUR, 31 March 2009: Any question on the actual date of the transfer of power will only be known after the official statement is issued by the Prime Minister’s Department.
Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak said he could not make any comment as long as the official statement was not issued.
“This has to wait for the official statement, I can’t make the official statement,” he told reporters after visiting the Sin Chew Daily, here today.
Najib said this when asked on the rumour that he would be taking his oath of office as Prime Minister on 3 April.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi is scheduled to have an audience with the Yang di-Pertuan Agong on 2 April.
In the meantime, when asked on the new cabinet line-up, he said the matter would only be decided after the swearing-in of the Prime Minister.
Asked whether he would be appointing the Umno candidates who had lost in the party election last week into his cabinet, Najib said: “I have yet to think about it.”
In the Umno election recently, several ministers and deputy ministers lost in the contest for the top party posts resulting in a minister voicing his intention to resign from the cabinet.
Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister Datuk Shahrir Abdul Samad, who was among those who lost in the election, had expressed his intention to step down.
Several other cabinet members including Tourism Minister Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said and Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Dr Rais Yatim left it to the top leadership to decide their fate.— Bernama
To be updated
