SELANGOR state PAS secretary Roslan Shahir Mohd Shahir has taken a pot shot at the Selangor state assembly speaker Ng Suee Lim for having rejected a proposal by the Perikatan Nasional (PN) coalition to replace the current Opposition leader from UMNO to someone else from the Opposition camp.
According to Roslan, Speaker Ng Suee Lim who is also the DAP state assemblyman from Sekinchan has rejected the proposal on grounds that he had not received any written application from Sg Air Tawar assemblyman Datuk Rizam Ismail (BN-UMNO) with regard to vacating his position.
“Rizam no longer effective in carrying out his duties because the Pakatan Harapan (PH)-Barisan Nasional (BN) unity government has been formed at the Federal level,” HarakahDaily cited Rizam as saying.
“It seems that this DAP speaker is going round and round. Given that it is official and publicly know that PH and BN are now political partners, isn’t this a good enough reason to replace the Opposition leader rather than to wait for the letter?”
For context, Bukit Antarabangsa assemblyman Datuk Seri Azmin Ali (Bersatu-PN) has mooted the appointment of an Opposition leader for the Selangor state assembly as Rizam has lost his effectiveness as an Opposition leader.
In Rizam’s place, Azmin has proposed the appointment of Sijangkang assemblyman Datuk Dr Ahmad Yunus Hairi (PAS-PN) as the new Selangor Opposition leader.
According to Azmin, Rizam himself had admitted that it was difficult for him to carry out his duties effectively.
In fact, in a Berita Harian report on Nov 29, 2022, Ng himself stated that the status of the Selangor Opposition leader will be examined after the Federal Cabinet is formed.
Since then, the 10th Prime Minister’s Cabinet has already been formed on Dec 3 which means that the Federal government has already clocked more than 100 days.
“Or is it possible that Rizam is more comfortable and wants to remain as the Opposition leader and refuses to support the PH state government?” asked Roslan.
“For me, if the reason is the letter that the speaker is waiting for, it is then true that Rizam and perhaps the other four UMNO assemblymen are not ready to support the PH state government as their leaders at the Federal level.”
Added Roslan: “Selangor UMNO may not be able to accept PKR and DAP like how their president has accepted it at the Federal level. If something as small as this cannot be properly managed, then it is only appropriate that the Selangor PH government is shown a way out in the upcoming 15th Selangor state election.” – March 15, 2023
