‘Ridiculous’: Umno’s Nur Jazlan slams Johor Pakatan, Muda for asking to be included in state govt activities

 

Nur Jazlan said that the Opposition was being unreasonable in wanting to be included in official Barisan Nasional government functions and meetings. — Picture by Ben Tan

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JOHOR BARU, April 29 — Johor Umno deputy chief Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamed has slammed the state’s Pakatan Harapan (PH) and Malaysian United Democratic Alliance (Muda) chapter for wanting to be involved in the state government’s activities

Calling the demand “ridiculous”, he said that the Opposition was being unreasonable in wanting to be included in official Barisan Nasional (BN) government functions and meetings.

“As the days go by, I can’t help but feel that the Johor Opposition front is acting more and more cartoonish in their demands.

“They need to seriously stick to their responsibilities as being a responsible state Opposition and stop interfering in the ruling government’s affairs,” Nur Jazlan told Malay Mail last night.

He was responding to an earlier statement by Johor PH and Muda in calling on the state government to involve state Opposition lawmakers in the activities of the soon-to-be appointed BN special state assembly coordinators.

The joint Johor PH and Muda statement had said their demands were based on the principle and spirit of bipartisanship and all invitations to official government functions for BN coordinators should be extended to Opposition assemblymen.

The remark came after it was reported on Wednesday that Johor Mentri Besar Datuk Onn Hafiz Ghazi will appoint 16 BN coordinators to facilitate aid distribution in Opposition state assembly seats in Johor.

Nur Jazlan, who is also the Pulai Umno division chief and BN chief, explained that the various BN coordinators in the state are appointed by the Johor mentri besar where the particular area’s elected representative an Opposition assemblyman.

He pointed out that the BN state government has just received the mandate to lead the state for at least the next five years after it won the recent Johor state election.

“With that, BN appoints coordinators in Opposition-controlled state seats as the state government does not need to depend on the area’s elected representative who is not from the ruling coalition.

“Usually the Opposition assemblyman in a particular area is also not capable or lacks the funds in assisting the people despite having an equal allocation as BN assemblymen.

“At the same time, there is a need for the state government to appoint coordinators among the BN component parties to channel and distribute aid,” said Nur Jazlan, who is also a BN coordinator.

At present, Nur Jazlan helms the Perling state constituency as the appointed BN coordinator. The Perling state seat is under PH and the assemblyman is DAP leader Liew Chin Tong.

Nur Jazlan, who is a former parliamentarian and deputy minister, said it is impossible to include Opposition assemblymen in the District Development Action Committee (JTPD) as well as asking BN coordinators to provide a quarterly plan to be shared.

He described such demands as absurd as the BN coordinators are answerable and only report to the mentri besar, not PH or Muda.

Nur Jazlan said that when PH helmed Johor from 2018 to 2020, BN as the main Opposition coalition was never invited to participate in any of the state government meetings. - malaymail