'Changing PM will benefit country, not removing Mukhriz'

Changing the prime minister as opposed to changing the Kedah menteri besar would bring about more benefit to the country, notes a PAS parliamentarian.

Commenting on the current Kedah political imbroglio, Pokok Sena MP Mahfuz Omar questioned whether current Kedah Menteri Besar Mukhriz Mahathir’s weaknesses had larger repercussions than Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak’s faults and weaknesses.

“Will toppling Mukhriz be beneficial to the country’s economy?

“Will executing Putrajaya’s political agenda against Mukhriz lead to the recovery of our economy, the strengthening of our currency and the increase of the country’s income?

“Will we regain foreign investors’ confidence in Malaysia? Will the removal of Mukhriz solve the rising cost of living faced by the rakyat?” asked Mahfuz in a series of questions today.

The people of Kedah, said Mahfuz, do not care about the potential candidates for the menteri besar post.

“What the people of Kedah are questioning is the need for changing the menteri besar.

“Therefore, I am puzzled why is it so hard for Najib to understand what the people of Kedah really want,” he said.

Although several Umno MPs, state assemblypersons and division leaders may be blind followers, the majority of Kedah people are not like them, said Mahfuz.

“The plot to topple Mukhriz has disturbed the Kedah political peace,” he added.

The current political imbroglio in Kedah started after the Jan 20 press conference led by Kedah Umno deputy chief Ahmad Bashah Md Hanipah, who claimed that the state's Umno grassroots have lost confidence in Mukhriz's leadership and called for him to be replaced as state Umno chief and menteri besar.

He was accompanied by 12 division chiefs and two division deputy chiefs at the time.

Bashah claimed that Mukhriz had failed to unite the party, lacked strategic planning for the next general election, failed to lead and mobilise the party's machinery, as well as failed to manage the state administration effectively.

The move was seen as a proxy war between Mukhriz's father Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Najib.

Najib reportedly met the Kedah Regency Council last Friday and had supposedly proposed three individuals to be Mukhriz's successor. -Mkini