Sunday April 19, 2009

MB failed to explain raft of changes, says club

By R.S.N. MURALI

KUALA TERENGGANU: Mentri Besar Datuk Ahmad Said’s failure to explain his drastic step of removing, demoting and redesignating senior officers of state-linked companies and agencies may be one reason for his fallout with the 10 Barisan Nasional assemblymen.

Another reason, claimed the Terengganu Barisan Nasional Supporters Club, was Ahmad’s decision to stop the uniform aid to schoolchildren.

Club secretary Alias Abdullah said what Ahmad did sowed resentment on the ground.

“I don’t think ties would have soured if the Mentri Besar had briefed the state assemblymen properly on the reasons for his actions,” said Alias, who is also the Alur Limbat assemblyman.

Ahmad had earlier removed and re-designated many state senior officers. They included chief executive officers of state-owned companies, while several top government officials felt that they had been demoted when they were re-assigned to head less important agencies.

Alias said the assemblymen were also caught in a bind when they could not explain why some aid to the constituents were stopped.

He claimed that Ahmad ignored the difficult situation of the state assemblymen.

Alias said the 10 assemblymen were also upset when three of their peers received death threats purportedly originating from the Mentri Besar’s office, leading them to stay away from the second day of State Legislative Assembly proceedings.

In another development, state police chief Senior Asst Comm Datuk Sukhri Dahlan said investigations into the death threats were still in progress.