Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim (AP)

Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar bin Ibrahim announced forming a new cabinet and appointed Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and his main election rival, Fadillah Yusof, as his deputies, Malaysian media reported on Friday.

The newly-elected Prime Minister also announced that he will be personally heading the Finance Ministry, Malaysian news portal Star said. Rafizi Ramli, the former head of the country's national bank, was expected to take the post but was appointed Economy Minister instead.

Former Defense Minister Mohamad Saboo was given the post of Agriculture Minister, Star said, adding that the Defense Ministry was handed to Mohamad Hassan, who served in that role until 2020.

Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar bin Ibrahim announced on November 24 that his cabinet would be significantly reduced.

On November 19, Malaysia held a general election to its 222-seat lower house and regional legislatures, in which no party or coalition was able to win a majority of seats.

This necessitated the formation of a coalition government between competing parties. However, the parties failed to come to an agreement, leading to the decision to appoint a new prime minister to be made by Malaysian King Sultan Abdullah.

Anwar, who heads the Alliance of Hope coalition, previously held the position of deputy prime minister. He was officially sworn in as Prime Minister on Thursday.

Newly-elected Malaysian PM refuses to use office's luxury Mercedes

On Sunday, Anwar released a tweet announcing that he "refused" to use a luxury car that belongs to the PM's office and that was purchased prior to him taking office.

"I would like to inform you that yesterday I refused to use a Mercedes S600 type vehicle that was purchased and obtained by the Prime Minister’s Department before I entered the office," the PM said.

Saya ingin memaklumkan bahawa semalam saya telah menolak untuk menggunakan sebuah kenderaan jenis Mercedes S600 yang telah dibeli dan diperoleh Jabatan Perdana Menteri (JPM) sebelum saya memasuki pejabat.#DemiPertiwi pic.twitter.com/aifWWUUuAH
— Anwar Ibrahim (@anwaribrahim) November 27, 2022

Anwar stressed during a visit he made to the Sungai Long mosque that his administration will not be wasting public funds on cars or other unnecessary expenses, urging other departments to follow suit and "start a new culture."

"This is a message to all department leaders to remember that in the current situation, we should start a new culture. Don’t use government money for our own facilities," he pointed out.