JOHOR BARU, Sept 20 — Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob should ignore the many purported threats and demands from Umno leaders and focus on managing the country instead, said a Johor Perikatan Nasional (PN) leader today.

Johor PN deputy chairman Mohd Solihan Badri claimed that such distractions were preventing Ismail Sabri from solving the problems currently faced by the people.

"As a result of politicking, the prime minister has lost focus in managing the government, the people and the economy.

"This includes disregarding the recommendations made by National Recovery Council (NRC) chairman Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin to the Cabinet that has a solid basis and should be implemented by the government.

"Don’t take Tan Sri Muhyiddin’s suggestions lightly just because he is the PN chief.

"The prime minister needs to be professional in managing the government because if a good idea is ignored, it is the people who will suffer the consequences,” said Mohd Solihan in a statement issued here today.

Mohd Solihan, who is the Johor Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) deputy chief, pointed out that the NRC has advised Ismail Sabri to implement an "extraordinary programme” to jumpstart the country’s economy after the Covid-19 pandemic.

However, he said, the prime minister was not seen as taking seriously Muhyiddin’s recommendation or the NRC report as no comprehensive action had been taken.

Mohd Solihan also noted that the state’s PN chapter has not seen any new developments since Ismail Sabri took over the country’s leadership except continuing Muhyiddin’s previous plans when he was the prime minister.

He said while regional countries were active in restarting projects and implementing new developments to drive growth that had previously stalled due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Malaysia has unfortunately made international headlines due to its endless political conflicts.

"The prime minister needs to quickly correct this situation and not be biased against Muhyiddin’s recommendations so that the government is serious about stemming the country’s loss of billions of ringgit every month.

"Among them, economic management failures and labour shortages, including those in core industries such as palm oil, in addition to the decline in the ringgit’s value following various factors that are increasingly uncontrollable.

"Ismail Sabri also needs to have the courage to deal with the political threats from his Umno colleagues himself, in addition to sensibly balancing politics and the priority of managing the interests of the people,” said Mohd Solihan.