UMNO Johor called for state elections to avoid being held ransom by other parties, Nur Jazlan Mohamed said.

“We don’t want to be in the same situation as Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob,” the state deputy chief told The Malaysian Insight in an interview in Johor Baru yesterday.

He said that Ismail national’s government is fragile, propped up by “less than honest support”.

“The prime minister has shown that he is in anything but an honest and harmonious relationship, as demonstrated by two recent events concerning the Bersatu and PAS presidents Muhyiddin Yassin and Abdul Hadi Awang,” the former deputy home minister said.

Ismail’s need to remain in power has forced him to make questionable decisions, such as appointing Muhyiddin as the head of the National Recovery Council (NRC) when Muhyiddin isn’t even in the cabinet, Nur Jazlan said.

“This has resulted in confusing messages sent out about reopening international borders,” the former three-term Pulai MP said.

Ismail was forced to contradict Muhyiddin three days after the former prime minister told reporters that Malaysia planned to reopen its international borders on March 1. 

As Covid-19 infections rose past 20,000 cases a day, Ismail said on Friday that the cabinet had not even discussed reopening the borders.

“This shows inconsistency in the administration,” said Nur Jazlan.

“Yet Ismail has to placate Muhyiddin in order to get his support, even though it doesn’t make sense to appoint a non-cabinet member to head the NRC.”

Similarly, Nur Jazlan said that Hadi’s appointment as Malaysia’s special envoy to the Middle East has also backfired, after the PAS president met a representative of the Taliban government in Qatar recently.

“Why is Hadi promising aid to the Taliban government in Afghanistan when the Malaysian government has not even recognised it?”

He added that Ismail’s weakness and reluctance to get a fresh electoral mandate has forced him to make poor decisions, leading to confusion. 

“This is something that Umno is looking to avoid in Johor,” the 55-year-old Umno leader said.

A more stable Johor

Two events also forced Umno Johor’s hands, Nur Jazlan said.

“The first was Muhyiddin’s threat after Barisan Nasional won the Malacca state elections last year and the second was when former Johor Menteri Besar Hasni Mohammad had trouble passing the 2022 state budget.

“The second trigger was when Kempas assemblyman Osman Sapian died last year, leaving the government with just 28 votes in the 56-member state assembly. 

“So instead of remaining in a state of instability for another 17 months, we decided to call elections,” Nur Jazlan said.

He added that Johor needs a stable government to resolve some of the economic issues caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. 

“Johor Baru, for instance, depends highly on tourism from Singapore but the instability and fragility of federal and state governments have made it difficult to increase the quota for the vaccinated travel lane (VTL).

“Compared to previously, the areas surrounding Johor Baru are very quiet now, because there are no more Singapore tourists. We believe that the Singapore government is not keen to increase the quota until there is a more stable government,” Nur Jazlan said.

He added that the retail and services sectors in Johor Baru have suffered from the decline in tourism.

In December, it was announced that the VTL quota would be 1,440 people a day. Although both governments said they planned to increase this figure at a later date, the surge in Omicron infections has delayed the plan.

Johor will head to the polls on March 12 with nomination day on February 26 and early voting on March 8. – February 14, 2022.