JOHOR Bahru UMNO chief Tan Sri Shahrir Samad has questioned the lack of announcement of the Johor menteri besar (MB) candidate from Perikatan Nasional and the Opposition.
“The question as to who is the Johor MB candidate from PN and Pakatan Harapan (PH)-PKR-MUDA has yet to be answered,” he wrote in a Facebook post.
According to the UMNO veteran, PN chairman Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin had recently volunteered to be Johor’s economic advisor if the coalition prevails in the state elections next week but the party has yet to announce its MB candidate.
“Will Johor have a ‘remote control’ MB [who controls the state from Kuala Lumpur]? Is the state going to thrive by a simple click of a button?” Shahril further questioned.
Shahril claimed that two former Johor MBs from Bersatu – the late Datuk Osman Sapian who passed away in December last year and Datuk Dr Shahruddin Jamal – had operated in that manner.
“Johor had to be controlled from KL which affected the state’s economic prosperity. Is PN going to announce a cooperation with DAP, Amanah, PKR and MUDA and form a PH 2.0 Government for Johor?” he asked sarcastically.
The Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition has named Johor BN chairman Datuk Hasni Mohammad as its candidate for MB if it wins the Johor state polls.
Muhyiddin on Feb 24 had announced that PN already has a candidate in mind for the post of Johor MB but will wait for the right time to reveal who it is.
According to the former prime minister, the candidate – which will most likely be from Bersatu – meets the coalition’s criteria and would be announced soon.
Meanwhile, PKR candidate for the Layang-Layang state seat Maszlee Malik had denied rumours that he is the Johor MB candidate should the party and PH be given the mandate in the upcoming state election.
Maszlee said that PKR president Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim had never touched on the MB issue and merely asked for his vote and support for PKR and PH to take Johor to a higher level. – March 7, 2022
