Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak on Wednesday announced a new cabinet line-up to help his transformation agenda and national reconciliation after a tightly-run general election.

Najib described the new cabinet as a "balanced" one with experienced former ministers, technocrats and young politicians.

"I believe those experienced will contribute in the continuity based on their experience as former ministers," he told reporters at the Prime Minister's Office when unveiling the new line-up.

"The technocrats will contribute with their specialties, which are very important in bringing in creative ideas for the government's consideration. For those young, except for their capability, they will try to bring the feeling of the youth into the consideration of the government."

Najib will continue to hold the finance minister portfolio; Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin will head the new Ministry of Education and Higher Learning, which was merged by the education ministry and higher education ministry.

Old faces dominate other key cabinet posts, as Anifah Aman and Mustapa Mohamed remain as Foreign Minister and Minister of International trade and Industry respectively.

Former Home Minister Hishamuddin Hussein and former Defence Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi saw their jobs swapped.

Those new faces include Abdul Wahid Omar, President and CEO of Maybank, Malaysia's leading commercial bank; as well as Paul Low Seng Kwan, an anti-corruption campaigner and President of Transparency International Malaysia.

Both of Low and Abdul Wahid were appointed as Minister in the Prime Minister's Department.

P. Waytha Moorthy, human rights activist and Chairman of HINDRAF, an NGO that campaigns for equal rights for ethnic-Indians, will serve as a Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister's Department.

Khairy Jamaluddin, a 37-year-old popular assemblyman, will be minister for Youth and Sports.

Najib also described his new line-up as "capable", which will continue national transformation and increase the trust of the people to the government.

Earlier in the day, Najib met with Supreme Head of State Abdul Halim Mu'adzam Shah to get his consent on the new government. Najib was sworn in as prime minister for a second term on May 6, the second day of the general election.

The new cabinet saw a sharp drop of number of ministers or deputy ministers from the ethnic-Chinese, which accounts for 25 percent of Malaysia's total population, as Malaysian Chinese Associations (MCA), major Chinese component parties of the ruling coalition, has declined to accept any cabinet posts due to its poor showing in the election.

Najib left the position of Transport Minister vacant with Defence Minister Hishamuddin Hussein as caretaker, pending MCA to reconsider its decision.

The ruling coalition Barisan Nasional, or National Front, won 133 out 222 parliament seats in the May 5 general, but failed to retake the parliamentary two-third majority that it lost in the previous election in 2008.

The opposition, led by former Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, has organized several big rallies across the country since the polling to protest against the electoral fraud.

Najib has vowed to push for national reconciliation in the multi-ethnics country.

The new ministers were expected to be sworn in on Thursday.

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