Report: Campaign to change Opposition leader intensifying; Shahidan Kassim named as favourite
PRO-PAKATAN Harapan (PH) mouthpiece Harapan Daily has leaked a ploy to replace Opposition leader Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainudin who is said to be “disinterested in carrying out his duties”.
Until now, the two names that have been proposed to replace Hamzah are Datuk Seri Shahidan Kassim (PAS-Arau) or Datuk Khlir Mohd Nor (Bersatu-Ketereh).
“Dewan Rakyat speaker Datuk Johari Abdul had once casually mentioned that Arau (Shahidan) is a good candidate for the Opposition leader role,” Harapan Daily pointed out.
“In the recently concluded Dewan Rakyat term, Hamzah had failed to attend the Dewan Rakyat during every of the Prime Minister’s Question Time (PMQT) session and even if he did attend, he was late and did not pose any questions to challenge PM (Datuk Seri) Anwar Ibrahim’s statements.”
In the seven PMQT’s sessions that took place between Feb 13 and April 4, also absent were Perikatan Nasional (PN) chairman, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin (Bersatu-Paguh) and PAS president Tan Sri Hadi Awang (Marang).
Former Opposition leader of 29 years and retired DAP supremo Lim Kit Siang had on few occasions taken Hamzah who is also the Larut MP and Bersatu secretary-general to task primarily for:
- Failing to provide check and balance during the half-hour PMQT; and
- Failing to pass the Yang di Pertuan Agong’s test in the Royal Address Motion to ensure political stability for the next five years to allow the country to unite a very polarised plural nation, and to reset and return to the original nation-building principles to become a first-rate world-class nation.
In fact, Twitter activist @ArwahJemin who tweeted “The proposal to change a new Opposition leader since Larut, Pagoh and Marang are not really interested” has received a lot of attention with over 159,500 views, 929 Retweets and 615 Likes as of time of writing.
In addition to being part of the “invisible trio” during Anwar’s PMQT sessions, Hamzah who was the former Home Minister in the previous administration was recently embroiled in the issue of malpractice when his son was accused of violating regulations related to subsidised cooking oil. – April 12, 2023
It's hard for top politicians to get into "Effective Opposition Mode" after they have walked the corridors of power.
ReplyDeleteHamzah Zainudin really looks out of place and in sulking mood currently .
Shahidan sounds colourful enough to take over the role.
Kedah MB Sanusi may be even more effective.