'What's wrong with requiring village chiefs to pledge support for Azmin?'

Johor exco member Chong Fat Full confirmed that candidates for Chinese new village chiefs are being asked to sign a pledge to support International Trade and Industry Minister Azmin Ali, in order to be eligible for the post.

However, he said, this is merely a means to determine whether the candidates support the Perikatan Nasional government.

Chong (above) said this yesterday when contacted by Malaysiakini on recent accusations about the pledge signing made by Johor Pakatan Harapan.

He rebutted the accusations, claiming that when Johor was under Harapan rule, DAP had insisted that candidates join the party before being eligible to be village chiefs.

Chong said he merely wanted the candidates to voluntarily pledge support for PN and Azmin, and never forced them to join any political party.

“So, what is wrong with what I’m doing?

“We never asked anyone to resign from their parties. We only want them to declare their loyalties and show that they are aligned with PN. Otherwise, how would we cooperate and get things done?

“These are all political appointments. It would make things easier if they would, at least, declare their support for us,” he said.

As for why the pledge specifically calls for support towards Azmin (photo), who is the senior minister (economic cluster), Chong said this was merely a political manoeuvre and declined to discuss further.

He said although he is an independent assemblyperson, he still considers Azmin as his leader.

The exco member said regardless of the candidates’ political backgrounds, even Harapan-era village chiefs are eligible for the post, as long as they are willing to declare support towards PN and Azmin.

Chong was previously the PKR assemblyperson for Pemanis. Following PN’s takeover of Johor, he resigned from PKR and pledged support for PN and was subsequently appointed as a state exco member. He is the only non-bumiputera exco member in the state.

On Wednesday, DAP's Tangkak assemblyperson Ee Chin Li issued a statement saying that he received complaints from NGOs in Johor stating that Chong had demanded that nominations for new village chiefs must be accompanied by a pledge of support for Azmin.

Ee showed the documents to the media, where it states new village chief must “support the political platform led by Azmin” and agree to register as a member of the platform later.

This was an act of humiliation of the candidates for the posts of new village chiefs, Ee (below) said.

“Johor customarily has 123 Chinese new village chiefs. Apart from apolitical appointments, some posts are reserved for representatives of local NGOs.

“These NGO representatives have never asked to be part of any political party, let alone to sign a 'pledge of allegiance' to some political leaders.

“The funny thing is, even if candidates were to sign a pledge of allegiance, it should be for Menteri Besar Hasni Mohammad, or Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, who is a Johor native. Why is it some politician who has nothing to do with Johor?” he asked.

Meanwhile, Johor PKR chief Syed Ibrahim Syed Noh said Chong’s actions are tantamount to using official positions as gratification in exchange for political support and he urged the MACC to investigate this.

Syed Ibrahim cited Section 23(1) of the MACC Act 2009, which states that any officer of a public body who uses his office or position for any gratification, whether for himself, his relative or associate, commits an offence.

“But the issue is, why does such condition exist, even though it has nothing to do with being a village chief? There is the likelihood that failure to meet the condition would mean a candidate will not be chosen,” he added in his statement last night. - Mkini