KUALA TERENGGANU, May 13 — Kemasik assemblyman Rosli Othman has denied rumours that he has quit Umno and has come out to pledge his loyalty to the new mentri besar (MB) of Terengganu. 

The state executive councillor for Works and Transportation, however, said he was of the opinion that Umno's top leadership should have consulted the grassroots first before deciding to change the MB.

He said the ensuing developments in the state had indirectly given the opportunity to the opposition to “fish in troubled waters”.

“I respect the decision of Umno's top leadership (to make the leadership change) and support all instructions issued, nevertheless, it would have been better to have consulted the divisional leaders first because of the slim majority the Barisan Nasional has in the state assembly,” he told reporters here today.

He said the rumours about him quitting Umno spread because he was not present at the swearing in of new Mentri Besar Datuk Ahmad Razif Abd Rahman at Istana Syarqiyyah last night.

“Actually I was in Kuala Lumpur on work matters,” he said, adding that what was important now was to persuade Datuk Seri Ahmad Said (who quit Umno last night after resigning as the MB) to come back to Umno because he was a great leader. 

After Ahmad resigned as MB last night, Ahmad Razif, who is also the Seberang Takir assemblyman, was sworn in as the new MB.

Ahmad is also the assemblyman for Kijal.

Early today, two other assemblyman, Ghazali Taib (Ajil) and Roslee Daud (Bukit Besi) had announced they were also quitting Umno.

The resignations have left the Terengganu legislative assembly with 14 representatives from the BN, 14 from PAS, one from PKR and three independents.  

The change of mentri besar in Terengganu was not a spur-of-the-moment decision as Ahmad pledged to step down as the mentri besar one year after his reappointment in May last year so as to enable the new mentri besar to strengthen the Barisan Nasional (BN) in Terengganu where the coalition had only secured 17 of the 32 seats in the legislative assembly. 

Ahmad had reached a gentleman's agreement to step down, but seems to have gone back on his word and is holding the government to ransom. — Bernama