In an episode of the “Keluar Sekejap” podcast with Shahril Hamdan, Khairy said PN would be the first coalition to have a shadow cabinet if it took this on.

“Previously, when Pakatan Harapan or Barisan Nasional were in the opposition, we did not have shadow cabinets, we had committees, (just) a few people who were responsible for debating certain issues in the Dewan Rakyat.

“PN should promote their ‘shadow ministers’ so that the public is aware of them,” he said, drawing a parallel with the United Kingdom where a large number of political observers knew their shadow ministers.

While acknowledging that shadow cabinets were not officially recognised in Malaysia, unlike in the UK, Khairy said this did not mean they could not function.

The former minister said the opposition should also capitalise on the prime minister’s question time in the Dewan Rakyat every Tuesday which is meant for the prime minister to field questions from MPs.

“If I were the opposition leader, I would request that it be adversarial. A session where the prime minister directly answers the opposition leader, for the first 20 minutes, before opening the floor to other MPs.

“That is the stage for the opposition leader to show they (PN) can be a check and balance to the government,” said the ex-Rembau MP.

Khairy added that this would allow the opposition leader, Hamzah Zainudin, to be viewed as an alternative to the prime minister, as is the case for Keir Starmer, head of the UK Labour Party.

On Feb 2, PN chairman Muhyiddin Yassin unveiled what was thought to be the coalition’s shadow cabinet. However, Hamzah later said the appointed committees were not PN’s shadow cabinet.

Hamzah said the heads of the respective committees were appointed to monitor and voice out concerns over issues related to the specific ministries they were assigned to.