Cabinet of Malaysia

The Cabinet of Malaysia is the executive branch of the Government of Malaysia. Led by the Prime Minister, the cabinet is a council of ministers who are accountable collectively to the Parliament. According to the Article 43 of the Federal Constitution, members of the Cabinet can only be selected from members of either houses of Parliament. Formally, the Yang di-Pertuan Agong appoints all Ministers on the advice of the Prime Minister. The constitution is amended by repealing the Clause of Article 43, enabling a person who is a member of State Legislative Assembly to continue to serve even while serving as a minister or deputy minister in the cabinet. Ministers other than the Prime Minister shall hold office during the pleasure of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, unless the appointment of any Minister shall have been revoked by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong on the advice of the Prime Minister but any Minister may resign from office. In practice, the Yang di-Pertuan Agong is obliged to follow the advice of the Prime Minister on the appointment and dismissal of ministers.

WWW kabinet.gov.my/bkpp

Cabinet appointments

Members of the Cabinet must be members of either house of Parliament. Most ministers are appointed from the lower house, the Dewan Rakyat, although a few are appointed from the upper house, the Dewan Negara. The Prime Minister must be a member of the Dewan Rakyat. Although Deputy Ministers and [List of List of Parliamentary Secretaries of Malaysia|Parliamentary Secretaries of Malaysia|Parliamentary Secretaries] may be appointed to each portfolio, they are not included in the Cabinet. The Cabinet meets weekly, every Wednesday. After the position of Parliamentary Secretary was removed and partial live telecasts of Parliament proceedings began in 2008, Cabinet meetings were moved to Fridays whenever Parliament sat, so as to allow Ministers to personally answer questions during Question Time in Parliament.

Cabinet composition

The composition of the Cabinet, and the number of portfolios depends mainly on the wishes of the Prime Minister at the time. However, the post of Finance Minister was considered so important as to be a necessity, and as a result was incorporated by the Minister of Finance Act 1957. The position of Deputy Prime Minister is one that exists by convention, and as a result a Prime Minister could theoretically form a Cabinet without a Deputy.
Deputy ministers exist for each portfolio, although they are not considered members of the Cabinet. The position of Deputy Minister was created by constitutional amendment in 1960. The office of parliamentary secretary for each ministry exists but none were appointed after the 2008 Malaysian general election. Parliamentary secretaries were provided for by an amendment in 1963. Deputy ministers and parliamentary secretaries are also appointed from members of Parliament, and deputise for the ministers in government ministries and in Parliament respectively. An additional office, that of the Political Secretary, exists. Political Secretaries need not be members of Parliament. Before taking office, all members of the Cabinet, Deputy Ministers, Parliamentary Secretaries, and Political Secretaries take an oath of secrecy concerning the proceedings of the Cabinet.

Functions of cabinet

An outline of the functions of the Cabinet are as follows:

To formulate national economic policies and development programmes.
* The Cabinet is responsible to formulate various development programs and projects for the development of the country. Examples are the New Economic Policy, the National Development Policy, and the National Vision Policy.
To set the budget and finance of the country.
* The government is allowed to generate revenues from the people through the collection of taxes, fines, summons, custom duties, fees, etc.
* The government is allowed to plan for the various development programs, and also to allocate the resources for these development plans and programs.
As an arena for suggestions, debates, and criticisms.
* The Cabinet is allowed to discuss almost any issues of national interests, except those that touch on the special rights of the Malays, Bumiputeras and/or royal privileges. Article 153 : It shall be the responsibility of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong to safeguard the special position of the Malays and Natives of any of the States of Sabah and Sarawak, and the legitimate interests of other communities in accordance with the provisions of this Article.
To propose and amend the law.
* Law is proposed by the Executive and introduce in Parliament with the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd readings for approval.
* Most provisions for the amendments of the constitution requires a 2/3 majority of the total number of members from both of the Houses
* The bill must be presented to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong for the final assent.

List of cabinets

23 cabinets have taken place in Malaysia since 1957 headed by nine Prime Ministers.

No.	Name of cabinet	Head of cabinet	Period of office	Composition
1	Rahman I	Tunku Abdul Rahman	31 August 1957 – 19 August 1959	13 ministers
2	Rahman II	Tunku Abdul Rahman	22 August 1959 – 24 April 1964	16 ministers 6 assistant ministers
3	Rahman III	Tunku Abdul Rahman	25 April 1964 – 1969	20 ministers 5 assistant ministers 4 parliamentary secretaries
4	Rahman IV	Tunku Abdul Rahman	1969 – 21 December 1970	9 ministers
5	Razak I	Abdul Razak Hussein	22 December 1970 – 24 August 1974	22 ministers 7 deputy ministers 5 parliamentary secretaries
6	Razak II	Abdul Razak Hussein	25 August 1974 – 14 January 1976	20 ministers 16 deputy ministers 9 parliamentary secretaries
7	Hussein I	Hussein Onn	15 January 1976 – 8 July 1978	22 ministers 20 deputy ministers 8 parliamentary secretaries
8	Hussein II	Hussein Onn	9 July 1978 – 15 July 1981	23 ministers 22 deputy ministers 9 parliamentary secretaries
9	Mahathir I	Mahathir Mohamad	16 July 1981 – 21 April 1982	24 ministers 22 deputy ministers 10 parliamentary secretaries
10	Mahathir II	Mahathir Mohamad	22 April 1982 – 2 August 1986	24 ministers 29 deputy ministers 9 parliamentary secretaries
11	Mahathir III	Mahathir Mohamad	11 August 1986 – 26 October 1990	24 ministers 31 deputy ministers 10 parliamentary secretaries
12	Mahathir IV	Mahathir Mohamad	22 October 1990 – 3 May 1995	26 ministers 30 deputy ministers 14 parliamentary secretaries
13	Mahathir V	Mahathir Mohamad	4 May 1995 – 14 December 1999	30 ministers 27 deputy ministers 14 parliamentary secretaries
14	Mahathir VI	Mahathir Mohamad	15 December 1999 – 2 November 2003	30 ministers 28 deputy ministers 16 parliamentary secretaries
15	Abdullah I	Abdullah Ahmad Badawi	3 November 2003 – 26 March 2004	31 ministers 29 deputy ministers 16 parliamentary secretaries
16	Abdullah II	Abdullah Ahmad Badawi	27 March 2004 – 18 March 2008	34 ministers 39 deputy ministers 20 parliamentary secretaries
17	Abdullah III	Abdullah Ahmad Badawi	19 March 2008 – 9 April 2009	32 ministers 38 deputy ministers
18	Najib I	Najib Razak	10 April 2009 – 15 May 2013	33 ministers 40 deputy ministers
19	Najib II	Najib Razak	16 May 2013 – 9 May 2018	38 ministers 34 deputy ministers
20	Mahathir VII	Mahathir Mohamad	10 May 2018 – 24 February 2020	28 ministers 27 deputy ministers
21	Muhyiddin	Muhyiddin Yassin	1 March 2020 – 16 August 2021	32 ministers 38 deputy ministers
22	Ismail Sabri	Ismail Sabri Yaakob	27 August 2021 – 24 November 2022	32 ministers 38 deputy ministers
23	Anwar	Anwar Ibrahim	24 November 2022 – present	31 ministers 29 deputy ministers

Current Cabinet

The current cabinet, led by Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, succeeds the Ismail Sabri cabinet. Anwar formed his cabinet following the 2022 General Election.
As of 17 December 2025, the makeup of the current Cabinet is as follows: