JOHOR BARU, Sept 12 — Malaysian United Democratic Alliance’s (Muda) Puteri Wangsa assemblyman Amira Aisya Abd Aziz will be seated in the Perikatan Nasional (PN) bloc of the Johor state legislative assembly following the party’s decision to withdraw support for the unity government.
Johor state legislative speaker Datuk Mohd Puad Zakarshi said he had received a notification letter from PH balancer bloc leader Andrew Chen Kah Eng and based on a media statement by Muda president Syed Saddiq Abdul Rahman.
“In line with that, Amira Aisya’s new seating position will be moved with the PN balancer bloc,” he said in a brief statement today.
Meanwhile, Amira Aisya’s special officer Yusrizal Yusoff said that her office has been notified of the new changes.
“We will adhere to the Johor state legislative assembly speaker’s instructions and make the necessary changes for the coming session this Thursday,” he said when contacted by Malay Mail.
He was responding on behalf of Amira Aisya, Muda’s sole assemblyman, who was attending a course in Singapore today.
Mohd Puad’s statement came a day after Chen issued a statement yesterday saying that Amira Aisya, who is also Muda’s deputy president, was no longer welcome to sit with the PH bloc in the state assembly.
Chen, who is also DAP’s Stulang assemblyman, issued a strongly worded statement asking Amira Aisya to vacate her seat in the state assembly.
The Johor DAP secretary said this was due to Muda’s decision to withdraw from the unity government at the federal level and for attacking his party, which is a PH component.
Earlier, Yusrizal said Johor Muda had also expressed their shock at the statement as Muda’s ties with the state PH were cordial before this.
He said Johor Muda did not expect such a harsh response at the state level but was confident that Amira Aisya, who will be part of an independent third bloc, will still continue her responsibilities as an elected representative.
Checks showed that the concept of “third bloc” does not exist in the 56-member Johor state legislative assembly, where it is only divided according to backbenches and Opposition.
Following the political cooperation between PH and Barisan Nasional (BN) in the unity government, Johor Ruler Sultan Ibrahim Sultan Iskandar decreed in March this year that the former Opposition representatives in Johor be called balancers to check on the government of the day.
Amira Aisya will now be seated next to the three PN state lawmakers, Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia’s (Bersatu) Bukit Kepong assemblyman Datuk Sahruddin Jamal and it’s Endau assemblyman Alwiyah Talib and PAS’ Maharani assemblyman Abdul Aziz Talib in the state assembly.
For Muda’s political direction in Johor, its state committee’s secretary Muhamad Fikri Musa said he did not see any issues with the youth-led party’s movement in the state due to the recent events.
He said Johor Muda as an independent third bloc will continue with their work in serving the state as before.
“Prior to Muda’s decision to withdraw from the unity government, the party’s Johor chapter had mainly organised its own activities in Johor.
“So, we don’t see any clash of our activities with PH in Johor as we have always been independent in our programmes,” he told Malay Mail when contacted today.
Yesterday, Chen slammed Muda for being ungrateful even though PH has helped them before this.
Aside from saying Amira Aisya was no more welcome in the PH bloc, he also expressed his disappointment in Muda after Syed Saddiq referred to DAP as a “lapdog”, a reference to Syed Saddiq calling the party Umno president Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi’s “lapdog” last week.
On Sunday, Syed Saddiq announced that Muda has decided to be a “third force” in Malaysia’s politics by becoming an opposition party.
