‘A divided Umno in Perak’

PAS claims that there are two factions within Perak Umno,one supporting the prime minister and the other his deputy.

TAIPING: Some claim that Perak Umno is not sure whether they should pledge their allegiance to Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak or his deputy Muhyiddin Yassin.

These claims come from Perak PAS Youth. The state PAS coordinator Raja Ahmad Iskandar Al-Hiss said Umno in the state is divided into two camps.

Raja Ahmad claimed that one camp is lead by Menteri Besar Zambry Abdul Kadir which supports Najib while the other camp led by former menteri besar Mohammad Tajol Rosli Mohamed Ghazali is with Muhyiddin .

Raja Ahmad who is also the state deputy Youth chief said that although Tajol had given up his role in the state leadership, his camp of followers want to oust Zambry as the menteri besar.

It seems that Tajol’s followers want either Finance Minister II Ahmad Husni Hanadziah or Defence Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi to fill the top post.

However, Husni had indicated that he was more interested in the federal post rather than the menteri besar seat.

Also, Zahid had recently gave a media statement that he was not interested in the top state post and the three Perak MPs consisting of Law and Parliament Minister Nazri Abdul Aziz, Husni and himself were supportive of Zambry remaining as menteri besar after the 13th general election.

According to Raja Ahmad, in order to strengthen his political clout in the state, Zambry is not recommending the names of 12 Umno division chiefs considered as party rebels to stand as candidates in the coming elections.

The PAS leader said: “Instead he (Zambry) is taking advantage of Najib’s call for 50% of new and winnable faces from the state Umno camp and is recommending instead NGOs, his party supporters and retired senior civil servants.”

Raja Ahmad declined to name the 12 division Umno leaders and said that his information from Umno insiders is reliable.