Malaysia – Mohd Izhar Ahmad, a member of the Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu), has announced his resignation from the party, and became the second Johor leader to do so in as many days, claiming a lack of confidence in the leadership of Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin’s administration.
Furthermore, in yet another symptom of problems brewing at the Perikatan Nasional (PN) lynchpin ahead of the state election in Johor, the incumbent Larkin assemblyman has said that he would not be defending his seat and instead is urging people to support the Barisan Nasional (BN) alliance.
Though nominally allies in the federal government, the ruling BN and opposition PN have been openly antagonistic to one another in the most recent electoral contests.
According to him, he believes that Bersatu president Muhyiddin Yassin has failed to not only improve the party’s position, but he has also failed to make any effort to mend the party’s wounds following the split with Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s camp.
“This has not only hampered the growth of the party, but it has also harmed Bersatu ideals, which has a negative influence on the Malays and the interest of Islam. In other words, the primary reason for my decision to quit Bersatu was that I had lost confidence in the organization’s head, Muhyiddin Yassin.”
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Muhyiddin took over as prime minister from Dr Mahathir during the “Sheraton Move” of 2020, before being deposed by Umno, whose vice president, Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob, is now the country’s current leader.
Mazlan Bujang, the previous head of Johor Bersatu, resigned from the party earlier this week, claiming that he no longer had faith in Muhyiddin’s leadership.
In contrast to expectations, Mazlan did not formally resign from Umno but continued to actively encourage voters and supporters to support the Malay nationalist party and the BN alliance.
The Bersatu and PAS parties declared that they would run in the Johor state election independently of Umno, and that the Malay nationalist party should not take their support for the BN federal government for granted.
The veiled threat, however, looked to have been rendered irrelevant, since Umno is thought to be preparing for an early general election, which it has also hinted it would fight without cooperation with Bersatu and PAS, according to reports.
Following the dissolution of the state legislative assembly on Saturday, Johor Sultan Ibrahim Sultan Iskandar granted his royal consent, clearing the way for a state election to be held as soon as possible after.
After caretaker mentri besar Datuk Seri Hasni Mohammad of Umno demanded the dissolution of the state parliament despite still possessing a one-seat majority, the state house was called into session last week and dissolved.
It is planned on the 9th of February that the Election Commission (EC) will meet in order to determine the nomination and election dates for Johor.
