‘APPOINTING THE MB IS OUR ABSOLUTE RIGHT’: HEIGHT OF ARROGANCE OR NOT, JOHOR CROWN PRINCE DECLARES IT WAS SULTAN WHO ‘DECREED’ CHANGE OF MENTRI BESAR – ‘NOT SOMEBODY ELSE TAKING CREDIT & MILEAGE’ – IN VEILED REFERENCE TO DR MAHATHIR WHO MET OSMAN A DAY AGO

JOHOR BARU: Tunku Mahkota Johor Tunku Ismail Ibni Sultan Ibrahim has confirmed talk of the state’s Mentri Besar being replaced.

Tunku Ismail took to Twitter, saying that a decree to change the Mentri Besar has been ongoing for a while.

“But somebody else is taking the credit and mileage, claiming that he ordered it.

“His Majesty (Sultan Ibrahim Ibni Almarhum Sultan Iskandar) has reviewed to change the Mentri Besar since months ago,” Tunku Ismail said on his official Twitter account here on Tuesday (April 9).

Tunku Ismail said that the power in appointing the Mentri Besar was the absolute right of the Sultan.

“Enough with the politicking,” he added.

In a later tweet, Tunku Ismail said: “I hope the new Mentri Besar is not a ‘yes man’ of Putrajaya. The welfare of the people and well being of the state must always be a priority.”

On Sunday (April 7), speculation mounted that Johor Mentri Besar Datuk Osman Sapian’s career was in jeopardy when word got out that Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad was set to meet Osman at his office in Putrajaya on Monday (April 8).

It is understood that the Johor palace was dissatisfied with the way Osman handled the Sungai Kim Kim toxic gas contamination, which saw the closure of 111 schools in Pasir Gudang.

THE STAR