Tuesday May 7, 2013

GE13: Md Isa mum on identity of new Perlis MB

KANGAR: Perlis will get a new mentri besar before the birthday celebration of the Raja of Perlis on May 17 but the identity of the person is still unknown.

Outgoing Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Dr Md Isa Sabu, who did not contest in the general election, was mum on the issue when pressed by reporters.

“We will get a new mentri besar and new state executive council line-up before the birthday celebration of the Raja of Perlis,” he told a press conference yesterday.

It was earlier reported that among the names that have been mentioned as likely replacements for Md Isa are Datuk Mat Rawi Kassim, Datuk Ismail Kassim and Azlan Man, all of whom won the seats they contested.

Mat Rawi, 58, successfully defended the Beseri state seat while Ismail, who was the incumbent Arau MP, won in Tambun Tulang. Azlan, 55, a newcomer, won in Pauh.

Ismail, 54, is the younger brother of former mentri besar Datuk Seri Shahidan Kassim who won the Arau parliamentary seat on Sunday.

In a separate press conference later, Shahidan stressed that there should be no intervention in the appointment of the Mentri Besar which he claimed had occurred after the 2008 polls.

He said the mentri besar should be chosen by the political party that had won the largest majority in the state.

“Look at what happened to me in 2008. I received the letter of appointment to be mentri besar from the then Prime Minister Datuk Seri (now Tun) Abdullah Ahmad Badawi but somebody else was appointed at the last minute,” he added.

Shahidan, who was Perlis mentri besar from 1995 to 2008, had since then been on a warpath with his successor.

Barisan made almost a clean sweep by winning 13 out of the 15 state seats and all three parliamentary seats.

For more election stories, please visit The Star's GE13 site

More News