Seven Perak state exco members sworn in

IPOH: Seven state executive council members were sworn in at Istana Kinta here in a ceremony which took the media by surprise.

Those sworn-in yesterday were Datuk Saarani Mohamad who is Kota Tampan assemblyman, Dr Wan Norashikin Wan Noordin (Kampung Gajah) and Datuk Shahrul Zaman Yahya (Rungkup) from Umno, Razman Zakaria (Gunung Semanggol) and Mohd Akmal Kamaruddin (Selama) from PAS and Datuk Abdul Yunus Jamahri (Kuala

Kurau) and Datuk Nolee Ashilin Mohd Radzi (Tualang Sekah) from Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia.

Of the seven, four – Saarani, Shahrul Zaman, Abdul Yunus and Nolee Ashilin – were former state excos.

Present was Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Ahmad Faizal Azumu, who had on Monday said the exco members would be decided once the Covid-19 pandemic was under control and the movement control order (MCO) was lifted.

Press members only caught wind of the ceremony after congratulatory messages and photographs of the excos began circulating on social media before noon.

The ceremony was said to have started at about 10am with Razman being the first to leave the palace at about 11.30am followed by the others.

When met outside the palace, Faizal said he would be meeting the new excos soon to discuss their respective portfolios and on how to build a stable team.

“I will make a statement later. Three more (quotas) will be filled, hopefully in the shortest possible (time), maybe after the MCO,” he said.

State secretary Datuk Ahmad Suaidi Abdul Rahman said only a simple ceremony was held as to adhere to the MCO.

“The appointment of the state exco members is to form an administration machinery following the appointment of Perak Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Ahmad Faizal Azumu on March 13,” he said in a statement.

“The total of seven exco members is sufficient to help the Mentri Besar in running the operations of the state administration, in accordance with the state constitution.

“The portfolios for the appointed exco members will be determined in the shortest time possible.

“The three remaining quotas for the exco line-up will also be determined later should the need arise.”

The state Perikatan Nasional government, which comprises Umno, Bersatu and PAS, was announced by Faizal early last month, following the political turmoil that began in late February.

Faizal tendered his resignation as the mentri besar on March 10 which ended Perak Pakatan Harapan’s 22-month-long state government.