Zambry criticised for clumsy exco appointments

SuarakeAdilan 11 Feb 2009

In an early move, the BN chief minister has already antagonised some of his own party members, while non-Malays remain critical of his capabilities - especially with the latest ’sandiwara’

By SK English Team

BN Menteri Besar for Perak Zambry Kadir, who a day ago chose to field an executive council line-up of just six members, has appointed three advisers and an information chief with exco status.

The move is aimed at deflecting attention from the fact that the BN state government does not reflect the demographic mix of the state. 27 out of the 28 BN assemblymen in Perak are from the Malay-based Umno.

However, the clumsy attempt may backfire.

More charades

While Zambry is trying hard to gain popularity with the non-Malays in Perak, his own party members are crying foul.

“We are not happy with this. Why should we leave the posts vacant?,” an Umno member told Bernama, stressing that nine out of 10 exco posts should be filled by the party as it controlled 27 of 28 seats in the Perak State Assembly.

“Why were the posts not filled? Was it to please friends?,” asked Larut Umno division chief and assemblyman Raja Ahmad Zainuddin Raja Omar.

He added that component parties like the MIC, should recognise it had no elected representatives and so should not demand for any exco posts.

Political observers too said non-Umno Perakians were likely to be just as unhappy with the latest ‘sandiwara’.

“This is just an other charade by the BN. Really, they must stop under-rating the intelligence of Malaysians,” said a veteran political watcher.

Filled up

Meanwhile, Perak MCA chairman Kong Cho Ha said the decision was made by the BN leadership after taking into consideration the coalition as a whole.

“This will definitely go down well with the people of Perak because it can show that the BN is a government for all races and all rakyat in Perak. This is good as it shows that the state government is sincere.

“By leaving some posts vacant, at least it will give some impressions that there is room for more block representation, not dominated by one particular community,” Cho Ha said.

But with the latest appointments all carrying exco status, the 10 seats have effectively been filled - seven for Umno, two for MCA and one for MIC.

The advisers appointed today were S Veerasingam, an MIC vice-president, Chang Ko Youn, the Gerakan state chief, and Najmudin Elias al-Hafiz, the Umno assemblyman for Batu Kurau.

Pengkalan Baharu assemblyman Hamdi Abu Bakar was made state information chief.