FUTILE ATTEMPT TO SPLIT UNITY GOVT COOPERATION IN MAHKOTA BY-ELECTION CAMPAIGN - AMANAH

KLUANG, Sept 20 (Bernama) -- Amanah Johor chairman Aminolhuda Hassan hit out at the actions of opposition leaders who played up the issue of establishing a Unity Government in Johor during the Mahkota state by-election campaign.

He described the action as an attempt to split the close cooperation between Barisan Nasional (BN) and Pakatan Harapan (PH) to ensure the victory of the representative candidate of the Unity government, namely Syed Hussien Syed Abdullah from BN, in the by-election.

"Although we have mentioned (establishing) a unity government in Johor, but we understand that we have leaders at the federal government level, not only from Amanah but from PH, namely Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.

"We see bigger things, which is the federal government. It is more important that we take care and ensure that the Unity Government at the central level continues to be strong until the 16th General Election (GE). For that reason, we take the approach of cooperation in Johor even though (the state Unity government) ) does not exist," he said.

Aminolhuda told reporters after attending a Perpaduan ceramah here last night, which was also attended by Wanita DAP chief Teo Nie Ching and UMNO supreme council member Datuk Seri Ahmad Maslan.

He was commenting on Selangor Bersatu leader Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali's alleged challenge to Johor Menteri Besar Datuk Onn Hafiz Ghazi to establish a Unity Government in Johor if BN retained the Mahkota state seat in the by-election.

All 11 Johor government Exco members who were appointed after the State Election in 2022 which took place before the 15th GE, are from BN. Cooperation between BN and PH at the federal level started after the last GE.

Besides, Aminolhuda, who is also the MP for Sri Gading, questioned the assistance that could be given to the people if Perikatan Nasional (PN) won the Mahkota state by-election, while the opposition itself had rejected the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for allocations from the government.

Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainudin had previously stated their decision to reject two draft MoUs between the government and the opposition because they claimed it had an implicit intention to curb the freedom of their MPs.

The Mahkota by-election on Sept 28 is  a straight fight between Syed Hussien and PN candidate Mohamad Haizan Jaafar.

The by-election was held following the death of its incumbent, Datuk Sharifah Azizah Syed Zain, 63, on August 2.

-- BERNAMA