Malacca BN has retracted its cooperation with two Bersatu assemblypersons.
All 13 Barisan Nasional (BN) state assemblymen in Malacca yesterday pulled out their coalition to form the state government with two state assemblymen from Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu).
Malacca Umno chairman Datuk Seri Ab Rauf Yusoh said the 13 BN assemblymen, all from Umno, will instead work with Rembia assemblyman Muhammad Jailani Khamis, from PKR, and Pengkalan Batu assemblyman Norhizam Hassan Baktee, from DAP.
“I hereby confirm that 13 BN assemblymen together with assemblymen from Rembia and Pengkalan Batu will form a new pact supported by a sworn statutory declaration to be presented to the Yang di-Pertua Negeri Melaka, Tun Dr Mohd Khalil Yaakob.
“Without jeopardising the cooperation and spirit of Perikatan Nasional at the Federal level, the coalition of 13 BN with two Bersatu assemblymen, respectively – Datuk Mohd Rafiq Naizamohideen (Paya Rumput) and Datuk Noor Effendi Ahmad (Telok Mas) – is no longer in force, with immediate effect,” he said in a press conference yesterday.
Rauf said they have, up until yesterday, failed to meet with both Bersatu representatives.
“This has caused Malacca BN to lose their confidence in pursuing this cooperation,” he said.
On Tuesday, former chief minister Adly Zahari said he was informed by Malacca Governor Mohd Khalil Yaakob that his service had been terminated after losing majority support in the state assembly.
Adly also said he had proposed for the state assembly to be dissolved, but his request was rejected by the governor.
When contacted, Effandi claimed to have been blindsided by Rauf’s announcement.
“I don’t understand why Rauf rejected us, I didn’t even know about the press conference,” he was quoted as saying.
Effandi said he had not been invited to any discussions.
He added that to his knowledge, the announcement on Monday that BN and Bersatu together with Norhizam and Jailani would be forming the new state government, still stands.
He also said the matter of who would be the chief minister was to be decided between Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin and Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.
Zahid had submitted BN’s candidate for the chief minister position to the governor yesterday.
At the meeting, Rauf said a candidate from among the 13 BN state assemblymen will be named as candidate for the post of the chief minister and stressed that all the decisions made are the outcome of state-level BN coalition, not federal.
Asked whether there would be a power struggle for the post of Malacca chief minister, Rauf said they will accept whatever decision made by Khalil, but unfortunately, the collaboration did not reach a mutual understanding.
“We are in a state of uncertainty as to whether or not this cooperation will work without a discussion, understanding or meeting. It shows that we do not have a direction until we get a notice of the swearing-in ceremony of the Chief Minister.
“We have contacted the two Bersatu representatives, but they did not respond. We are not opposing the Perikatan Nasional pact, but we are against the representative leaders and characters from Bersatu who do not respect us,” he added.