KUALA LUMPUR — A fresh political storm is brewing in Terengganu, with rumours that nine UMNO assemblymen are threatening to defect as a result of a longstanding feud with the state’s Menteri Besar.
If the nine join forces with opposition Pakatan Rakyat’s (PR) eight Parti Islam SeMalaysia (PAS) assemblymen in Terengganu, the Barisan Nasional (BN) state government would fall. At present, BN has 24 of the 32 state seats, with UMNO holding 23 of the BN seats and the Malaysian Chinese Association taking the remaining seat.
But a senior UMNO assemblyman who is believed to be one of the unhappy nine denied the rumours. ‘It’s not true. It’s just a rumour,’ he told The Straits Times. However, he admitted that 18 of the 23 UMNO assemblymen were unhappy with the Menteri Besar’s leadership, and three were prepared to step down, declare themselves as independents or join the opposition.
‘Most of us don’t support him. We don’t think he has done enough in terms of strengthening UMNO in Terengganu.’
The state has long been shaky after the state ruler rejected UMNO’s choice of menteri besar, the incumbent Idris Jusoh, and appointed Datuk Ahmad Said following the general election in March last year.
Several UMNO leaders and supporters had held protests, leading to a brief constitutional crisis and an uncomfortable stand-off between the party and the palace. Then Premier Abdullah Badawi was forced to back down.
Since then, Datuk Seri Idris’ supporters say that they have been sidelined by Mr Ahmad and it seems they are unhappy because they were denied positions in the state Cabinet and were not handed state projects. In April this year, a group of 10 UMNO assemblymen boycotted a sitting of the state assembly amid rumours that a motion of no confidence would be tabled against Mr Ahmad.
Prime Minister Najib Razak had to intervene, and he ordered them to return to the proceedings.
A report by the Malaysian Insider news website this week said that nine assemblymen planned to join the opposition Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR), a member of the PR alliance, and together with PAS topple the BN state government.
There was also talk that they had met opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim. (By Hazlin Hassan/The Straits Times/ANN)
