With 93 of its 219 members appointed to the executive as ministers, deputy ministers and parliamentary secretaries, the Malaysian Parliament has one of the largest front benches, if not the largest, in the world.

The Indian Lok Sabha (Lower House) has 542 members but the entire executive has only 67 members (about one-fifth of them are from the Rajya Sabha-Upper House).

While the Australian population is slightly smaller than Malaysia, it has only 41 frontbenchers.

Even if the executive wing of the Malaysian Government is not the largest in the world, it is surely the largest in proportion to population.

Furthermore, our cabinet room is more crowded than that of most commonwealth counties, such as Britain, India or Australia. They have 22, 31 and 17 senior government leaders sitting at the Cabinet table respectively while Malaysia has 33 of them. Maybe this is what we call 'Malaysia Boleh'.

The size of the Malaysian Cabinet used to be quite reasonable in the first decade or so after Independence. The Merdeka Cabinet has 13 members.

Post-cabinet lunch at The Residency (Prime Minister's Residence at that time) where all ministers sat at the same dining table was something the then Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman cherished. Deputy minister was a word not known to the public then.

There were a few assistant ministers, such as Tan Sri Musa Hitam in his earlier incarnation as assistant minister to the then deputy prime minister.

The frontbench was first enlarged in the 1972-73 period under Prime Minister Tun Razak Hussein in order to include leaders from the former opposition parties that formed coalition with the ruling Alliance (PAS in Kelantan, Gerakan in Penang and People's Progressive Party in Perak.)

The Executive was made bigger after the formation of Barisan Nasional and the government's crushing victory in the 1974 election. There were 22 full ministers and 16 Deputy Ministers. The cabinet grows whenever the ruling coalition takes in new partners.

Dr Mahathir Mohamad did not have a strong grip over the ruling party Umno, when he took over as prime minister in 1981. Ministerial appointment was a handy way for him to please aspiring politicians from his party and the ruling coalition.

Not surprisingly, the Cabinet grew further. By the time Dr Mahathir stood down as prime minister in Oct 2003, the executive totaled 76 people, consisting of 29 full ministers, 31 deputy ministers and 16 parliamentary secretaries.

No change under Pak Lah

With the departure of Dr. Mahathir, it was widely hoped that all of his excesses would go with him. A halt on the expansion of the executive was a reasonable expectation on the new PM.

Quite to the contrary; Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi shocked the country with a 'jumbo size' (quoting Lim Kit Siang) 93-person frontbench in the recent post-election reshuffle, comprising 33 Ministers, 38 Deputy Ministers and 22 Parliamentary Secretaries.

Recently, a bizarre and hasty additional appointment of a 'Higher Education Envoy' was made.

Last Tuesday, the 17 Aug, Higher Education Minister Dato' Shafie Salleh announced that Effendi Norwawi, the former Agriculture Minister, was appointed the Government's special envoy with ministerial status at the Higher Education Ministry 'to promote Malaysia as a centre for education excellence at international level.'

In announcing the appointment, Higher Education Minister Datuk Dr Shafie Salleh said Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak informed the cabinet last week that Effendi had agreed to the appointment.

Among Effendi's duties are meeting professors and foreign government leaders to hold talks on bilateral collaborations in education and research initiatives besides promoting Malaysia as an education hub.

An envoy for higher education with ministerial status is unprecedented and to a certain extent a shocking appointment that shows the government's losing its basic sensibility and a total lack of respect for ministerial matters.

The Government needs to answer the legitimate concerns lingering in the minds of the people, such as (1) is ministerial status a political gift? (2) Does the higher education sector need an envoy? (3) Do we already have too many ministers?

There has been precedent for granting ministerial status to senior diplomats, but the point is that it has never been done casually.

Khir Johari was appointed Minister without Portfolio cum Ambassador to United States of America by Tun Abdul Razak. As the key loyalist to Tunku Abdul Rahman, Khir's position in the Tun Razak Cabinet was precarious and such overseas appointment was a graceful face saving exit for both the Prime Minister and Khir.

Other appointments of ministerial status envoys include the appointment of former Deputy Prime Minister Musa Hitam as Malaysia's Representative to United Nations in 1989, former Finance Minister Tun Daim Zainuddin as lead negotiator in the Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia tripartite talks in 1991, and Ajit Singh as ASEAN's first high-powered secretary-general in 1993.

Apart from Ajit, other individuals were once at the centre of power and presumably capable and competent decision makers in their own right. Effendi is definitely not in the company of Musa Hitam or Daim Zainuddin.

It may not have raised so many eyebrows had Effendi been appointed special envoy for trade. As a businessman himself and a former minister for the agriculture sector, Effendi would be more appropriately utilized to represent the country at the World Trade Organization or help negotiate bilateral free trade agreements with other sovereign states.

However, such an option is not plausible because the strong-willed and competent Trade Minister Rafidah Aziz would never accept any encroachment into her portfolio.

Nevertheless, it is unbelievable that the government could think of using the higher education sector for Effendi to stage a political comeback.

Unnecessary addition

An envoy is supposedly engaged in conventional diplomatic tasks of intergovernmental bilateral or multilateral relations. But, is higher education a bilateral or multilateral task like trade? Or, put another way, do we really need an envoy for the higher education sector?

Since the introduction of the Universities and University Colleges Act 1971 all aspects of higher education in this country have been centrally dictated by the Federal Government. This includes the appointments of vice-chancellors, staff salary schemes, duration of study and course syllabi.

University is an age-old institution supposed to function independent of the government. Centralised control Malaysian style does not necessarily apply to other countries. It is foolish to think that other governments maintain an equally tight fist over universities.

For instance, I had a good laugh when Higher Education Minister Shafie told reporters recently that he had submitted a memorandum to the Australian High Commissioner to Malaysia, James Wise, demanding the Australian Government not to raise tuition fees for foreign students.

For your information, the Australian Government no longer controls international student fees as it is now determined by respective universities according to its own pricing strategies. (Fees for local Australian students are still determined by the government.)

In most cases, the higher education sector does not constitute a diplomatic government to government relationship. It is established more by collaboration between universities or even among scholars. Thus, it is clear that there is no need for such an envoy.

Even if the Malaysian Government still believes that official participation is needed in academic collaboration with foreign universities, there is no shortage of ministers for such a PR exercise.

The Higher Education Ministry was formed after the March election. Prior to that, the Education Ministry was responsible for the higher education sector since independence. In fact, the new ministry only moved into its permanent office and began functioning a month or so ago.

It has a minister, a deputy minister and a parliamentary secretary. Why can't anyone of them represent the Malaysian government?

LIEW CHIN TONG is a research student at Faculty of Asian Studies, the Australian National University, Canberra.