Sanusi pledges to do his best

ALOR SETAR: New Mentri Besar Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor says he is grateful for the smooth transition of power and pledged to do his best for Kedah.

He said some projects of the previous administration would be continued while others might be upgraded.

“I hope to get full cooperation from all civil servants at state and federal agencies so that we can work together to drive the state’s economy.

“We will see if there are projects that need a total reset.

“We will look at it by placing the people as the priority, ” he told a press conference after being sworn in as the 14th Mentri Besar by Sultan Sallehuddin Ibni Almarhum Sultan Badlishah at Wisma Darul Aman here at 3.05pm yesterday.

Sanusi, 46, is the Jeneri assemblyman and Kedah PAS deputy commissioner.

Datuk Seri Mukhriz Mahathir, 56, of Pakatan Harapan stepped down as mentri besar earlier in the day after conceding that he had lost majority support among assemblymen.

The fall of the Pakatan state government comes after a power struggle that lasted over a week with six assemblymen – two from PKR and four from Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia – crossing over to Perikatan Nasional.

Of the 36-seat state assembly, Perikatan now has the support of 23 assemblymen.

This is the second time that PAS will take Kedah’s top post. The late Tan Sri Azizan Abdul Razak was sworn in as mentri besar after the state fell to PAS in 2008.

Sanusi, who had served as Azizan’s political secretary, revealed that he met Mukhriz at one stage to express support for the latter and for him to continue in the position until the end of term.

He said he did so because he wanted Mukhriz, who is the Bersatu deputy president, to reconcile with the party leadership.

“However, their clash (in Bersatu) became worse and did not improve, ” he said.

Sanusi said the fall of the Pakatan state government originated from the coalition’s internal squabbling and had nothing to do with PAS, which actually took what he termed as a “soft approach” in dealing with the political upheaval in Kedah.

He said PAS had never promised Mukhriz that it would not persuade Pakatan’s elected representatives to switch allegiance to Perikatan.

“PAS never promised anything, that is not true, ” he added.

Asked about the new state exco line-up, Sanusi said that his team would be appointed “as soon as possible”. - Star