He said that he sympathised with Ismail because he was not in a position to replace his non-performing ministers.
Khaled added that, at the same time, since the prime minister was from Umno, the party was bearing the brunt of the people’s anger over the failings of the government.
“It is public knowledge that he inherited several failed ministers from the previous Perikatan Nasional-led (PN) government.
“But who else can he pick to replace them? He did not have much choice from the existing MPs.
“Even if he wants to sack some ministers, he needs to first consult the respective component parties they represent. Any wrong move would result in a retraction of support for him by the parties concerned,” Khaled said in a Facebook post.
Khaled said it was easy for the public to chastise the prime minister for the government’s shortcomings, but added that anyone in his position would face similar constraints.
“It is not like the prime minister does not know that the public trust in his government is diminishing. But he has been put in a spot by the smaller parties in the ruling coalition.”
Over the past week, there have been various reports of a possible Cabinet reshuffle, including one that said Ismail would be appointing a deputy prime minister from Bersatu.
It was said to be a trade-off for dropping a few Bersatu ministers and deputy ministers following public criticisms of their poor performance during the disastrous floods that hit several states recently.
However, Ismail dismissed the reports saying that any talk of a Cabinet reshuffle was mere speculation.
Stay current - Follow FMT on WhatsApp, Google news and Telegram