KUALA LUMPUR – Leaders will not be able to focus and perform their administrative duties properly if they feel there are “hidden hands” pulling strings behind their backs, an Umno leader warned.
Speaking at the Umno general assembly, Wangsa Maju Umno chief Datuk Seri Mohd Shafei Abdullah asked if the recent debacle surrounding the Johor menteri besar’s appointment had more to it than meets the eye.
He said that despite scoring a handsome victory in the southern state last week, the fiasco engulfing the state’s top post was an anti-climatic incident after the party’s pick for the office, Datuk Hasni Mohammad, was overlooked.
“I have to ask this. While we were busy ensuring victory in Johor, was there a silent ploy behind the scenes taking place without the blessing of the Umno president (Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi)?
“I assume there wasn’t. But if there was, please stop this culture,” he said when debating the president’s policy speech today.
“In the end, leaders will lose confidence to carry out their duties, because wherever they go, they feel like someone is carrying a knife behind them.”
Umno’s Johor landslide victory on Saturday was marred by the crisis centred around the menteri besar post.
Hasni, who led the state government prior to its dissolution, had initially been given the mandate by Umno to lead Johor again if the party wins the polls.
However, Datuk Onn Hafiz Ghazi was instead sworn in as the new menteri besar on Tuesday, ending days of speculation that Hasni had been dropped.
It is believed the Johor palace might have played a role in the appointment of Onn Hafiz, with Crown Prince Tunku Ismail Sultan Ibrahim said to share a cordial relationship with the former state exco for youth and sports.
It is also understood that some within the state palace were not too pleased with Hasni’s decision not to approve a new sea reclamation project off the coast of Muar, which is owned by Johor’s Sultan Ibrahim Sultan Iskandar. – The Vibes, March 18, 2022
