The Sarawak state cabinet will see a major reshuffle next year, Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud said today.

bn supreme council mt meeting sapp sabah issue 190608 taib mahmudAccording to Bernama, Taib wants the Sarawak United People's Party (Supp) to hold its triennial delegates conference first before he decides who to choose as new cabinet members. The Supp event is scheduled for December.

The Chinese-based Supp, the second largest BN component in the state, lost eight seats in the 2006 state elections. Two serving assistant ministers then were among the casualties.

The forthcoming reshuffle, which is expected to be a bigger one after yesterday's minor reshuffle, was timed so as not to distract the delegates during the meeting that was considered crucial for Supp, Taib told reporters in Kuching this morning.

Minor reshuffle urgent

On the re-assignment of portfolios between two senior ministers, PBB’s Michael Manyin who took over SUPP’s Wong Soon Koh's last portfolio as minister of urban development and tourism, Taib said the minor reshuffle was quite urgent.

Wong, who remained as second minister of finance, also took over Manyin's last post as environment and public health minister.

In the present composition - based on the last major reshuffle made shortly after the 2006 polls - PBB currently have five full ministers and eight assistant ministers, followed by Supp (two full ministers and four assistant ministers) while PRS and SPDP (one full minister and two assistant ministers each).

Taib and his deputies - Supp president Dr George Chan and PBB deputy president Alfred Jabu hold three portfolios each.