Kedah MB crisis storm in a teacup?

© Provided by The Malay Mail Online Datuk Seri Mukhriz Mahathir is seen leaving the Putra World Trade Centre where the Umno supreme council meeting was being held Jan 29, 2016. — Picture by Saw Siow FengKUALA LUMPUR, Jan 30 — For all the brouhaha over the Kedah mentri besar crisis, it lacks significance compared to previous leadership tussles in other states as it appears to be just an internal Umno power play.

The 2014 Selangor mentri besar crisis was largely significant because it involved Malaysia’s most developed state and was touted as the crown jewel of then-Pakatan Rakyat (PR), now Pakatan Harapan, while the 2009 Perak constitutional crisis had led to a change of government. The 2014 Terengganu crisis saw Barisan Nasional (BN) momentarily becoming a minority government for just two days.

According to independent analyst Khoo Kay Peng, the planned ouster of Datuk Seri Mukhriz Mahathir as Kedah MB would not have a big impact on the economic development of Kedah as long as the ruling party remained the same.

“To say Mukhriz has failed to develop the state is not fair. The nature of Malaysian governance is very centralised with the main economic hub being Klang Valley driven. So there is very little for the mentri besar to manage on development; all they can do is manage,” he told Malay Mail Online.

“It has been like that for Kedah all this while, not just after Mukhriz took over,” Khoo added.

Professor Shaharuddin Badaruddin of Universiti Selangor said Kedah’s main benefit in replacing Mukhriz would probably be stronger ties between the state and federal government.

He said with Mukhriz being the son of Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, one of the biggest critics of Umno president and Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, it jeopardised the state’s relationship with Putrajaya.

“If Mukhriz wants to maintain as mentri besar, it would be difficult for the state because Kedah depends on the federal level to govern the state,” he told Malay Mail Online.

Merdeka Center director Ibrahim Suffian said the main stakes of the Kedah MB crisis involved Umno’s political image.

“The abrupt change of MB would be disconcerting to voters, particularly when there hasn't been a strong case levelled against him about performance issues. Such a move may be risky, dependent on the performance of the replacement MB and the smoothness of the transition.

“As we know, Kedahans are fairly independent-minded as voters and can change the parties they want to lead if they aren't happy with performance,” the head of the independent pollster told Malay Mail Online.

Khoo suggested that the larger matter at stake was the democratic process, noting that the leadership crisis in Kedah, as well as previously in Selangor and Perak, did not see a vote of no confidence being tabled at the state legislative assembly.

Najib said yesterday that the Kedah Regency Council did not reject Umno’s list of candidates to replace Mukhriz as Kedah MB, indicating that a motion of confidence would likely not be tabled at the state legislative assembly. There were reports instead of statutory declarations being signed to express the loss of confidence in Mukhriz.

In Perak, BN formed the new state government after Najib had an audience with the state sultan when three PR assemblymen defected and became BN-friendly independents.

The Selangor crisis saw the DAP, PKR and PAS proposing candidates to the sultan to replace Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim as MB, without a motion of confidence being tabled in the legislative assembly either. Datuk Seri Azmin Ali from PKR was eventually appointed mentri besar.

“It’s definitely not healthy for democracy. Unless the person who holds the position was found going against the law or found in breach of trust, a change of MB due to internal political friction is definitely not good,” Khoo said.

“It needs to be questioned, but if it continues proving to be effective, it will continue to happen,” he added.