'Never crossed our mind we would end up as opposition'

INTERVIEW | Recalling the situation prior to the 14th general election, Johor's incoming opposition leader Hasni Mohammad revealed how there was no alarm in the state Umno right up to when voters cast their ballots.

Hasni said Johor Umno expected to lose a few seats but not the administrative centre of Kota Iskandar.

“We had a good record in managing the state government, so we thought we could win.

“It never crossed our mind that we would end up as the opposition,” he told Malaysiakini in an interview.

Hasni said all Umno members must share the burden of BN's defeat when asked if former premier Najib Abdul Razak is to be blamed for the coalition losing federal power and an additional seven states.

However, he agreed with Najib relinquishing his position as Umno president and BN chairperson.

Hasni cited how Najib's predecessor Abdullah Ahmad Badawi was asked to vacate his position after BN's electoral setback in the 2008 general election.

“Even when we lost our (two-thirds) majority (in parliament), Pak Lah (Abdullah) was asked to leave, what more when we lost control of the federal and state governments.

“It goes without saying, Najib had to go,” he added.

Prior to the polls, Hasni said Johor BN had persuaded the federal government to include more incentives for the state in their manifesto to neutralise local dissatisfaction.

“We made it clear that the manifesto must give us a lot of goodies because we knew our challenge was with (issues concerning) the federal leadership.

“There were no such issues at the state level,” he added.

Hasni pointed out that the BN manifesto promised to widen the North-South Expressway (Yong Peng to Johor Bahru portion), the Kuala Lumpur-Singapore high-speed rail and Johor Bahru-Singapore Rapid Transit System.

However, he said these promises could not compensate for the former federal government's failure in handling major scandals.

“We were just unable to defend issues at the federal level like 1MDB, Mara, Felda even Tabung Haji. These are all federal issues, and they also affected the voters in Johor.

“It's not that people were unemployed for years or they voted (Harapan) in order not to pay their PTPTN (higher education loans) and it's not because people do not have food to eat.

“It was all about issues which were not managed properly and this did not sit well with the voters,” he added.

In the May 9 general election, Hasni successfully defended the Benut state seat for a third term albeit with smaller majority.

He won with a 4,447 majority against Bersatu's Zulkifly Tasrep and PAS' Mohd Firdaus Jaafar.

In the 2013 national polls, Hasni won the seat with a 6,572 vote majority.

Of the 56 state seats, BN only won 19 compared to 38 in the previous election. As for the parliament seats in Johor, the coalition won eight as opposed to 21 before. -Mkini