DESPITE winning a convincing two-thirds majority in the Johor state election, it seems UMNO is now embroiled in fed among themselves on who will become the next menteri besar (MB).
This comes as a surprise as UMNO itself had announced during the campaigning period that the incumbent, Datuk Hasni Mohammad would be retained at the post should they win the polls.
Taking his frustration to social media, UMNO veteran Tan Sri Shahrir Abdul Samad to decry the situation and called it embarrassing.
“When I saw Hasni’s media statement, I realised that he is going to be replaced as the Johor MB. This is so humiliating.
“During the Johor polls, I kept making fun of Pakatan Harapan and Perikatan Nasional for not being able to name their MB candidate as UMNO had already announced that Hasni will be retained.
“However, it seems it was not enough and Johor UMNO could do nothing about this,” he said.
Yesterday, Hasni issued a statement saying that given that the youths had shown up in full force to support Barisan Nasional (BN), he was of the opinion that a younger candidate should be appointed as the new MB.
“God willing, with a new leader, Johor will become stable and prosperous. As I have said before, no political party or ideology is greater than the state of Johor. Let us work together to make our Johor better,” he stated.
However, according to a report by Malaysiakini, while the party wanted Hasni to be retained as MB, a “higher power” was in favour of Machap state assemblyperson Datuk Onn Hafiz Ghazi to succeed him instead.
Onn Hafiz, 43, is a grandson of Umno founder Datuk Sir Onn Jaafar.
“The party wants Hasni. But ‘the higher authority’ wants Onn Hafiz,” the source was quoted as saying.
Upset with the state of affairs, Shahrir said that he feels embarrassed to attend UMNO General Assembly which is scheduled for this weekend.
He added that the recent turn of events showed that Johor UMNO was not as great as touted to be despite an impressive win recently.
“I was supposed to the Johor UMNO’s spokesperson in the upcoming general assembly but I now don’t feel like saying anything at all.
“I’m sorry, my friends. This is so humiliating given that Hasni has led us to a massive win in the Johor state election,” the former minister mentioned.
Despicable
On related matter, several netizens including Pakatan leaders took to social media to bemoan the situation, adding it was despicable that Hasni was being sidelined despite leading the party to victory.
(Before the polls, Johor had a UMNO man as MB. Pakatan even allowed the budget to pass and there was no issue in waiting for a general election. However, they still insisted on a by-election despite the Omicron wave and people having problem putting food on the table. Nearly RM100 mil was spent and for what again, stability?)
User Simpleton AD added: 
Echoing his sentiments, user Qyira queried: “But how do you run your entire campaign with Hasni as your MB candidate then just give it to someone else?” — March 15, 2022
