JOHOR BARU, Aug 16 ― The Johor Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) will continue to support Datuk Hasni Mohammad as the state’s mentri besar, pending further instructions following the resignation of their party’s president Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin as the prime minister.

Johor Bersatu secretary Datuk Dr Sahruddin Jamal, who is also the Bukit Kepong assemblyman, said currently they will continue to support the state government until further notice.

"God willing, all 12 Bersatu state assemblymen still support the Johor government.

"We will do so until there is a further directive from the party’s leadership,” said Dr Sahruddin when contacted by the media here today.

The former Johor mentri besar was responding to the state Bersatu’s stand on supporting the Umno-led state government following Muhyiddin’s resignation as the prime minister.

Earlier, Dr Sahruddin, who is also the Johor Perikatan Nasional (PN) secretary, said in a statement that it was regrettable the actions of some parties have put the country in a political crisis in addition to disrupting the stability of the government administration at this time.

He stressed that focus at such a time should be addressing the health and economic crisis of the people affected by Covid-19 pandemic.

Johor, that was under the PN coalition, is led by Hasni who is also the state’s Umno chief.

The coalition that Hasni leads has 29 seats in the state assembly, while the Pakatan Harapan (PH) Opposition has 27 seats.

Umno has 14 seats, Bersatu (12), MIC (two) and PAS (one). The Opposition consists of DAP with 14 seats, PKR (seven) and Amanah (six).

Last Thursday, Johor Ruler Sultan Ibrahim Sultan Iskandar warned all assemblymen that he will not hesitate to dissolve the state assembly if they cannot work together and the political turmoil disrupts the governance of Johor.