JOHOR BARU, Aug 21 — Johor Menteri Besar Datuk Osman Sapian should be more professional, open-minded and mature in handling criticisms hurled at the state government, said Umno vice-president Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin today.

He claimed that Osman has not been able to manage the state well despite appearing to accept constructive criticisms and wanting to be more democratic.

“He is more interested in looking for the problems and inadequacies of the previous state administration to cover his own mistakes,” said Mohamed Khaled in a statement.

The 59-year-old former Johor mentri besar also lashed-out at Osman for his “habit” of making a statement before checking his facts.

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“That is why, in most cases he is always reprimanded and will have to change his decision from time-to-time.

“He is also defensive on views and comments regarding the current state government that he sees as being malicious in nature,” said Mohamed Khaled, adding that due to that Osman has also labelled Umno leaders as “gila talak” or having post-divorce obsession.

Recently, Osman criticised the Barisan Nasional (BN) Opposition for always trying to find fault with the PH state government’s initiatives over the past three months.

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He called the Opposition “gila talak”, a Malay reference to the post-divorce obsession and likened them to one who still clung on to an ex-spouse despite being divorced.

Earlier in his statement, Mohamed Khaled also denied that there were unresolved issues with regards to the state’s religious school project, with some being abandoned and problematic.

He claimed in his statement that problems regarding the religious schools were resolved when he was the mentri besar.

“The construction on the remaining 77 schools by state-linked company Kumpulan Prasarana Rakyat Johor Sdn Bhd (KPRJ) was also done transparently.

“The statement issued (by Osman) was incomplete, inaccurate and is intended to undermine the previous state administration,” he said.

Yesterday, Osman was reported as saying that the previous state administration had failed to build 121 Islamic religious schools and his administration had to take over the task.

He said KPRJ had to take over the construction of 77 uncompleted schools and 18 which were already completed but with shoddy workmanship at a cost of RM240 million to ensure the projects will not be white elephants.