THE pressure to hold snap elections in Johor arises from a power struggle in ruling party Umno, said state DAP chairman Liew Chin Tong.

“Essentially, there are two camps in Umno – ‘kluster mahkamah vs kluster menteri’, a popular phrase among party leaders and members,” said the DAP strategist.

The “court” cluster, so named because of the members’ regular appearances behind the dock for corruption, consists of party president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and his predecessor Najib Razak while the “ministers” group refers to the cabinet led by Prime Minister smail Sabri Yaakob.

“In Johor, the Najib-Zahid-Mohamad Hassan group is assisted by vice-president and former menteri besar Khaled Nordin, and Johor deputy chief and former deputy home minister Nur Jazlan Mohamed.”

Liew said the court group’s strategy is to push for a snap general election while the minister group wants Umno to continue working with Bersatu and PAS.

“Their argument is that it would be too risky for Umno to go alone, and the party has accepted the fact that coexisting with Bersatu dan PAS would bring benefit to all,” said the former Kluang MP.

To help the Zahid-Najib faction push for a general election, Liew said the group wants to force state elections in Johor and Perak ahead of party elections so that they can strengthen their grip on the party.

He said that although Zahid only has control of one-third of the 191 Umno divisions, he has a grip on the party’s Supreme Council.

“Moreover, as president, Zahid can decide who gets to contest in state and national elections.”

“Only in such circumstance they can decide on all the candidates to be fielded, thus replacing their kluster menteri rivals with members of their team. 

“To put it in the simplest terms, the Johor snap poll is just the first salvo for a snap general election, which will be Najib and Zahid’s “get-out-of-jail” pass. 

“The nation hangs in the balance as we head towards these disasters,” said Liew.

It was reported today that Johore is holding a state meeting today to decide whether to call for snap polls.

The NST said Johor Mentri Besar Hasni Mohamed is expected to call for a press conference after the party’s meeting today.

The 56-member Johor assembly consists of Barisan Nasional (16), Perikatan Nasional (12), and Pakatan Harapan (27). After the death of former MB Osman Sapian, who was the Kempas assemblyman, the BN-PN government only has one assemblyman more than Pakatan Harapan.