THE collapse of the Umno-led Malacca government is a party matter and is best left to president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi to handle, Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob said.

According to Ismail, he had been receiving a lot of concerned messages about the possibility of a state election after four assemblymen – including two from Umno – pulled their support from Chief Minister Sulaiman Md Ali yesterday, causing him to lose his majority.

“Many Malaysians have sent me messages saying they are worried that what happen in Sabah could take place again,” he said, referring to state polls there in September last year, which led to another wave of Covid-19 cases.

“However, this is a party matter and it will be decided by the party president, not me,” Ismail told reporters today at an event at the Perbadanan Putrajaya complex.

If a snap election is to take place in Malacca, he said the Election Commission will have very strict standard operating procedure.

Last night, a letter by the state Barisan Nasional election deputy director was sent out instructing the grassroots to prepare for a possible snap poll.

Ismail, who is also Umno vice-president, said he hoped things would remain calm, as the federal government had signed a memorandum of understanding on transformation and political stability with Pakatan Harapan.

However, the crisis is said to be an internal power play within Malacca Umno, sources have told The Malaysian Insight.

Sungai Udang assemblyman and former chief minister Idris Haron led the group of assemblymen in withdrawing support for Sulaiman yesterday.

The other three assemblymen are Norhizam Hassan Baktee (Pengkalan Batu), Noor Effandi Ahmad (Telok Mas) and Nor Azman Hassan (Pantai Kundor).

Idris and Nor Azman are from Umno, while Noor Effandi is from Bersatu, and Norhizam is an independent originally with DAP.

The four of them along with Pakatan Harapan assemblymen are due to see the governor about forming a new state government but the date has yet to be fixed.

Sulaiman now has the support of 13 assemblymen (12 from Umno and one from Bersatu), while 15 representatives are in the opposition (11 PH, plus the four who withdrew support).

There are 28 seats in the Malacca assembly. – October 5, 2021.