Pahang MB to be sworn in today

KUANTAN: The new Pahang menteri besar will be sworn in at Istana Abu Bakar in Pekan today.

The palace invited the media to attend the 3pm oath-taking ceremony.

It is learnt that the menteri besar and state executive councillors will be sworn in simultaneously.

The ceremony was scheduled to take place last Saturday but it was postponed by the Regent of Pahang, Tengku Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah.

The state Barisan Nasional (BN) won 25 state seats in the 14th General Election (GE14), while Pakatan Harapan (PH) won nine and Pas won eight.

State BN chairman Datuk Seri Adnan Yaakob, who won the Pelangai state seat for the eighth consecutive term, is expected to be reinstated as menteri besar for the fifth term.

He is seen as the most suitable candidate for the post.

This is because, besides leading Pahang BN to victory in GE14, the 68-year-old also enjoys a good relationship with Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

Asked about rumours that BN elected representatives were crossing over to PH, allowing the coalition to form the next Pahang government, state PH chairman Datuk Fauzi Abdul Rahman told the New Straits Times that: “There are no BN assemblymen joining PH... I believe its better for BN to form the state government as it has received the mandate from the people.”

In Kangar, the Perlis mentri besar appointment issue is unlike the situation in Kedah, Perak and Sabah, where there is a need for a majority support for a state assemblyman to be appointed as mentri besar.

Legal practitioner, Zuhair Ahmad Zakuan, said the 14th General Election confirmed that BN had won the most seats with 10 out of the 15 seats.

“The state BN chief Datuk Seri Shahidan Kassim has proposed to the Raja of Perlis to appoint Tambun Tulang rep Datuk Ismail Kassim as the Menteri Besar.”