Call for special Johor State Assembly

KOTA ISKANDAR: Pakatan Harapan assemblymen have sent in their official request to the Johor Speaker to immediately hold a special meeting to determine whether the support received by the new mentri besar is sufficient to form a new state government.

Johor Pakatan coordinator Aminolhuda Hassan, who is also Parit Yaani assemblyman, said they were appealing to Speaker Suhaizan Kaiat to hold the meeting under Articles 7(1) and 7(2) of the Johor State Assembly Rules.

“The main purpose of having this request is to decide whether the support received by the mentri besar is in line with Clause 4(6)

of the Undang-Undang Tubuh Kerajaan Negeri Johor 1895,” he told reporters after leading a group of Pakatan assemblymen to hand over the letter to Suhaizan at Bangunan Sultan Ismail here yesterday.

He said the state Pakatan was not disputing the appointments of the mentri besar and state exco members as this was under the full discretion of Johor Ruler Sultan Ibrahim Ibni Almarhum Sultan Iskandar.

“But we are questioning the authenticity of the claims by (Mentri Besar Datuk) Hasni (Mohammad) to have received support of five Pakatan assemblymen – three from PKR and two from Amanah.

“Based on this, we felt that this is not true as all Amanah assemblymen are still with Pakatan and only one PKR assemblyman has jumped to the new coalition,” he said.

Suhaizan said he would be reviewing Pakatan’s appeal to hold a special meeting.

“I have to see whether there is any justification behind their request,” he said, adding that any action he takes would be communicated to the relevant parties.

The Johor state assembly meeting was supposed to be held on March 5 but was postponed due to the present political uncertainty.

The one-day meeting was supposed to discuss three issues – seeking additional budget funding, tabling of public accounts committee reports and introducing new Bills.

The state assembly will also need to meet by June as the last session was in December last year.

On Feb 28, Hasni was sworn in as the 18th Johor Mentri Besar following the collapse of the Pakatan-led state government.

In a statement, Sultan Ibrahim’s private secretary Datuk Jaba Mohd Noah said the Ruler was satisfied that the new coalition had a simple majority during his personal meeting with the state assemblymen on Feb 26.

“During the meeting, 28 of the 56 state assemblymen supported the new coalition, while 26 supported Pakatan,” he said.

Pemanis assemblyman Dr Chong Fat Full, previously from PKR, quit his party and became an independent.

Johor Umno has 14 representatives, MIC (two), PAS (one), Bersatu (11), independent (one), PKR (four), DAP (14) and Amanah (nine). - Star