Kedahans are outraged that Mukhriz Mahathir, who is seen as “clean and scandal-free”, was forced to resign as menteri besar, says Alor Setar MP Gooi Hsiao Leung.
He said that it is well known that Mukhriz was targeted because of his father’s (Dr Mahathir Mohamad) criticisms of Najib, and has nothing to do with Mukhriz’s performance as MB.
He added that it was a successful coup for the camp led by Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak.
“In contrast, Najib, who is covered in a cesspool of allegations up to his nose, is untouched and enjoys the support of Umno and BN to be PM,” Gooi told Malaysiakini.
Mukhriz himself said today, when announcing his resignation, that he was toppled because of his criticisms against Najib over the latter's alleged involvement in the 1MDB and RM2.6 billion donation scandals.
Mukhriz said he decided to resign after he was told that he has lost the support of the majority of the Kedah assemblypersons (21) and opposition members (15), who met the Regency Council on Monday and Tuesday.
The opposition assemblypersons had actually preferred that the MB crisis be resolved by calling for a vote of no-confidence against Mukhriz.
Gooi (photo) said Mukhriz was democratically installed after the 2013 national polls and had enjoyed the confidence of the majority of the representatives in state legislative assembly.
He added that Mukhriz should not have been deposed in such an “unparliamentary manner” by Najib’s camp cooking up “baseless and totally frivolous” reasons to remove him.
One of the reasons cited by the Kedah Umno divisions is that Mukhriz spent most of his time visiting his family in Kuala Lumpur.
Gooi said the orchestration of Mukhriz’s removal by Umno is also a “big insult” to BN component parties in Kedah, namely MCA and Gerakan.
He claimed that they were not consulted nor were their endorsement obtained to remove Mukhriz.
“Out of courtesy, Umno should have consulted MCA and Gerakan over this issue, even if it was a cosmetic one,” said Gooi, who is also Kedah PKR deputy chairman.
“In the end, Kedahans are convinced that the ousting of Mukhriz is nothing but the handiwork of Najib.
“It serves as a continuation of the 'night of the long knifes' to eliminate all of Najib’s political opponents,” said the PKR supreme council member.
Mukhriz is replaced by Kedah deputy chief Ahmad Bashah Md Hanapiah who will be sworn in tomorrow. -Mkini
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