MALAYSIAN Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad completed his Cabinet yesterday, with the appointments of another 13 lawmakers, including a 25-year-old touted as the country’s youngest minister and a science minister who will focus on green technology and climate change.

The Cabinet expansion is expected to stabilize the government and comes nearly two months after Mahathir led a four-party alliance to oust the National Front coalition that had held power since Malaysia’s independence from Britain in 1957.

The 13 new ministers and 28 deputy ministers were sworn-in in a palace ceremony.

Syed Saddiq Abdul Rahman, a 25-year-old law graduate who was a prominent debater and currently youth chief of Mahathir’s party, was appointed youth and sports minister, making him the youngest-ever to be appointed to the Cabinet.

Engineer Yeo Bee Yin, 35, was given the energy, green technology, science and climate change portfolio. An entrepreneur development ministry was also created for the first time, led by a 61-year-old former engineer.

The new foreign minister is Saifuddin Abdullah, 57, a former deputy minister who quit the then-ruling party in 2015 over the 1MDB scandal. The alleged looting and corruption at the state investment fund fueled the public anger that led to Mahathir’s victory.

(SD-Agencies)