MELAKA: A Melaka assemblyman has hit out at his fellow Umno lawmaker for branding the incoming Melaka Chief Minister Datuk Seri Ab Rauf Yusoh as a leader of a “backdoor” state government.
Merlimau asseblyman Dr Muhamad Akmal Saleh told Rembia assemblyman Datuk Muhamad Jailani Khamis not to forget that he was one of those who brought down the Pakatan Harapan state government in 2020.
“Probably it’s time to remind him (Muhamad Jailani) that he was among the four assemblymen who had ‘hopped’ as members of the ruling state government in March 2020, which caused the then Chief Minister (Adly Zahari) to be ousted.
“I hope he remembers overthrowing the state government then,” he said here yesterday.
Dr Muhamad Akmal, who is also the state health and anti-drug committee chairman, said Muhamad Jailani should understand that former Chief Minister Datuk Seri Sulaiman Md Ali had resigned.
“None of the present lawmakers had toppled Datuk Seri’s (Sulaiman) government, and the current development is seen as a smooth transition of leadership within the same party (Umno),” he said.
Deputy Prime Minister and Umno president Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi confirmed the nomination of Ab Rauf, who is Melaka’s Umno liaison chief, as the new Melaka chief minister.
An online news portal quoted Muhamad Jailani, who is also the state exco for tourism, as saying that Malaysians were well aware of the phrase “backdoor government”.
“What we’re about to see over the next few days is a ‘backdoor’ chief minister. This is a ‘new species’ from Umno and Barisan Nasional,” Muhamad Jailani was quoted as saying in the article on Wednesday.
