Raising PKR’s Chinese rep to the frontline in the Cabinet

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim may have yet assembled a “dream team” to handle the rigours of global trade when he reshuffled the entire ministry.

After the enforced end of Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz’s tenure as the Minister of International Trade and Investments (MITI) after his Senatorship tenured expired, the prime minister has brought in two technocrats of diverse background.

Succeeding him is an upcoming Umno leader in Datuk Seri Johari Abdul Ghani, whom some political pundits proclaimed as potential prime ministerial material.

Johari is no stranger to high profile positions, having held the position of Deputy Finance Minister under then Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak’s era.

He is also a successful corporate leader and a charted accountant, who is also regarded as a somewhat media baron due to his interests in some media conglomerates.

MITI is perhaps the most important ministry after the Finance Ministry following the move by US President Donald J. Trump to impose global import tariffs.

Assisting Johari is US – trained electronics engineer Sim Tze Tzin, the Bayan Baru MP, who is returning to cabinet after serving as a Deputy Agriculture and Agro – Based Minister previously.

Sim, is believed to be quite regarded by Anwar, who had handpicked him to join PKR decades earlier and subsequently elevated his position into the government after he had served in the office of the PKR president.

Regarded now as the Chinese face of PKR after Tian Chua decided to quit the party, Sim is expected to leverage of his US training to help Johari.

The duo would be ably guided by Tengku Zafrul, who was earlier appointed as the Malaysian Investments Development Authority (MIDA) chairman for two years.

Dealings with tariffs besides opening up new markets for Malaysia’s export orientated economy, should be among the priorities of the new MITI leadership.

Sim took to social media to thank Anwar for according the trust in him.

“It is a big responsibility,” said the former PKR strategic planning adviser.

Sim’s constituency in Bayan Baru, is also known as the “Silicon Valley” of the East as this is where the Bayan Lepas Free Industrial Zone is located.