THE four assemblymen who withdrew their support for Malacca Chief Minister Sulaiman Ali did it to save Umno and revive the party’s fortunes in the state, Idris Haron said.

According to the Sungai Udang assemblyman, they did not anticipate the state assembly would be dissolved and Malacca subject to an election during the Covid-19 pandemic.

“Our mission was to save Umno, so the party becomes the people’s choice.

“It was not performing. We wanted to fix the matter from the inside but we could not. We thought this could be corrected, but instead they dissolved the assembly,” he told The Malaysian Insight.

However, he did not elaborate on how his plan to withdraw support would have helped Umno improve its image and position.

The former Malacca chief minister said he had complained to Umno leadership regarding the actions of the state liaison chairman Ab Rauf Yusuf, whom he alleged interfered in the state administration.

However, Idris said the complaint was ignored and the party ejected him for indiscipline.

“How do you want to promote Umno or BN with people like this, I was afraid Umno will be rejected by the people, this is what I told the prime minister.

“If we allow this character to be in Umno’s structure, the party will no longer be the people’s choice,”

“I told myself… My initial purpose was to save the party, but the party took action to fire me, the party took selective action,” Idris said.

He questioned the decision to dissolve the state assembly because there are other ways that can be used to form a new government.

“The dissolution of the state assembly happened in a hurry. Today you asked for dissolution, the next day you refused an election because of Covid-19, what were you thinking?

“If you do not want an election, then don’t dissolve the assembly,” he said referring to an emergency rule that could be imposed on the state and thus cancelling the need for a poll.

Idris, along with three other assemblymen – Nor Azman Hassan (Pantai Kundor-BN), Norhizam Hassan Baktee (Pengkalan Batu-Ind) and Noor Effandi Ahmad (Telok Mas-PN) – withdrew their support for Sulaiman on October 4, causing the Malacca government to collapse.

Sulaiman’s bloc is now a dozen assemblymen –11 BN and one Bersatu – while the opposition has 15 (11 Pakatan Harapan, two BN, on Bersatu and one independent).

The Malacca state assembly has 28 seats.

“You have 13 assemblymen, we have 15, but four of us are considered enemies of the state. This a cowboy state?

“It brings uncertainty. I am worried it will lead to disaster.

“Who is playing politics? I said the chief minister is not ‘performing’ at this time, why not let us govern because we have a majority,” he said. – October 12, 2021.