THE move to oust Muhkriz Mahathir as Kedah menteri besar has nothing to do with his leadership of the state, said voters, who view the developments this week as a political move.

Kedah voters who spoke to The Malaysian Insight said the current political upheaval in the state is the result of the change in Putrajaya, which saw Pakatan Harapan (PH) being replaced by Perikatan Nasional (PN) in March.

Voters, including those who support PAS and Umno, said Mukhriz has done well as menteri besar.

Businessman Muhammad Farhan Ahmad, 33, said he welcomes the move to change the Kedah government, just like when PN took over Putrajaya.

He, however, hopes PN will not adopt “vengeful politics” by not supporting development plans initiated by the PH administration two years ago.

“The politics of revenge must be set aside for the good of the state. Good policies should be maintained because of the situation we are facing with Covid-19, (revenge politics) has little to do with the negative perception of the people.

“Mukhriz has lost the confidence of elected representatives not because of his weaknesses. As the menteri besar, he has no issues.

“The issue Mukhriz is facing is internal problems in PH. The people know there is conflict in Bersatu,” said the voter from the Pokok Sena parliamentary constituency.

Winds of change from Putrajaya

Another voter, 28-year-old Abu Habibullah, also said the people’s anger with PH at the national level brought a change of heart in Kedah.

He said since the change of government at the federal level, Bersatu and PH have been unstable due to internal issues.

“From the beginning, it looked like Mukhriz could lose support in the state assembly.

“The Kedah state development agenda may run well, but many Malays feel it does not function properly because there are racial issues,” he said.

On Monday, state opposition leader, PAS’ Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor, announced that Mukhriz had lost majority support in the state assembly after two PKR MPs defected to support PN, while four Bersatu representatives said they no longer support their party’s deputy president.

Sanusi said in all 23 assemblymen agreed to form a new government in Kedah to replace the joint PH and Bersatu administration.

Since the political change in Putrajaya, PH and Bersatu have jointly governed Kedah although they are no longer together in PH.

However, the defection of the six lawmakers, along with PAS’ 15 and Umno’s two seats, gave PN the majority in the state assembly.

Be wary of the Covid-19 pandemic

Meanwhile, a voter in Gurun, Zunnasrin Zaidi, 23, said although he supports the PN government, drastic changes should not be made as the country is still facing the Covid-19 pandemic.

“The situation in the country is still uncertain as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. The people of Kedah are not happy.

“I feel the people are fed up with politics. Talks of jumping should not be done during the movement-control order.”

Voter Ramachandran, 48, from Kuala Muda, said lawmakers “jumping around” was undemocratic.

“The mandate of the people has been violated. As a local, I can see that much progress has been brought to the state.

“We would feel a huge loss if PH no longer governs Kedah,” he said.

Mukhriz, however, insisted that he is still the legitimate menteri besar and any effort to dispute his support has to be made by a vote of no-confidence in the state assembly.

He said such support and the formation of the government could not be determined through press conferences of leaders and political parties alone.

Not unusual for change

Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM) political analyst Mohd Azizuddin Mohd Sani said this will be the second time that Mukhriz is ousted as menteri besar.

“Politics is such when there are times you are at the top and then sometimes you are not.

“It does not mean that the leaders are weak. In fact, all of these veteran politicians have faced issues, including Muhyiddin Yassin (Bersatu president), Anwar Ibrahim (PKR president), Dr Mahathir Mohamad (Bersatu chairman), Najib Razak (former prime minister) and others.

“Mukhriz is a victim of the current state of affairs and political turmoil that is sometimes unexpected due to power struggles,” he said.

Mukhriz resigned as Kedah menteri besar in February 2016, then under the Barisan Nasional administration, after losing the confidence of the Umno assemblymen.

The political move against Mukhriz was made after he publicly criticised Najib over the 1Malaysian Development Bhd scandal.

Meanwhile, Azizuddin found Mukhriz difficult to be portrayed as a politician of the calibre like his father, Dr Mahathir.

“The real Mukhriz in terms of leadership may not have emerged yet,” he said. – May 14, 2020.