JOHOR BARU: Johor Pakatan Harapan is now eyeing local councillor and village chief positions after being left out of the state executive council line-up yet again, says its deputy chairman.
Aminolhuda Hassan said the coalition accepted Mentri Besar Datuk Onn Hafiz’s decision not to include it in the recent reshuffle, which saw one Barisan Nasional exco member being replaced by a party colleague.
Aminolhuda, the state Amanah chief, noted that his party only held one state seat in Johor, but there were also assemblymen from DAP and PKR.
“Since there is no place for Pakatan in the state exco line-up, we hope for the chance to take on posts as local councillors, village heads and Chinese new village chiefs.
“This will reflect the true spirit of unity and collaboration between federal and state and project the strength of the Madani government,” he told a press conference after chairing the state Amanah leadership committee meeting at a hotel here on Friday (Feb 23).
Meanwhile, state Amanah deputy chief Dzulkefli Ahmad urged the state government to weigh the request with the 16th General Election and next state election in mind.
“We have to consider if there will be a Barisan-Pakatan partnership going into the next state election.
“We should not wait until the state assembly or Parliament is dissolved to start talking about the spirit of unity," said Dzulkefli, who is also a former state exco member.
The Johor exco line-up consists of 10 assemblymen, all from Barisan after the coalition won 40 out of 56 seats in the state election in March 2022.
On Feb 13, Johor Lama assemblyman Norlizah Noh, who was the state education, information and communication committee chairman, was dropped from the line-up.
She was replaced by Tanjung Surat assemblyman Aznan Tamin, also from Barisan.
In September last year, Aminolhuda reportedly hoped for at least three Pakatan representatives in the Johor exco line-up following the unity government’s win in the Pulai and Simpang Jeram by-elections, which he attributed to the “good partnership” between Pakatan and Barisan.
