Perak MB says can’t appoint Chinese, Indian excos as no reps in Perikatan

IPOH, Dec 14 — The Perak state executive council (exco) will not have any ethnic Chinese or Indian representation for now, Mentri Besar Datuk Saarani Mohamad said today.

This is because the state Perikatan Nasional (PN) government does not have any assemblymen from the two communities, he explained.

“We can’t appoint an Indian or Chinese rep in the state executive councillors’ line-up as we don’t have Indian or Chinese lawmakers in the formation of the new Perikatan Nasional government,” he said in a press conference after chairing the first exco meeting at the State Secretariat Building here.

“However, we already have representatives for these two communities in all the local councils in every district in the state,” he added.

Asked if he would appoint any ethnic Chinese or Indian from the PN component parties to be his special officer or adviser, Saarani said: “We will if there is a need”. 

Buntong assemblyman A. Sivasubramaniam from Gerakan and Tronoh assemblyman Paul Yong, an independent, had declared their support for Saarani and signed statutory declarations that were submitted to the Perak palace last week during the mentri besar crisis.

However, the duo are not part of the PN coalition. 

Saarani has so far picked only five people to be in his exco. They are: Umno’s Datuk Mohd Zolkafly Haru (Lintang), Datuk Shahrul Zaman Yahya (Rungkup), Datuk Dr Wan Norashikin Wan Noordin (Kampong Gajah) and Khairul Shahril Mohamed (Bota), and Bersatu’s Datuk Zainol Fadzi Paharudin (Sungai Manik).

The MB has indicated that more would be sworn in after he tables Pera’s Budget 2021, which was delayed due to the leadership crisis the last couple of weeks.

Saarani today said the exco meeting today finalised the state Budget and will table it in the state legislative assembly this Wednesday.

“The exco meeting today have passed the budget and there are no changes. We will inform the State Speaker and it will be tabled on Wednesday at the state assembly,” he said. 

Saarani also said former exco Datuk Nolee Ashilin Mohammed Radzi, who was in charge of Chinese and Indian new village, had submitted a list of names of the village chiefs.

“The lists have been approved by the previous government and we are now at the implementation level,” he said.