MB driving BN reps up the wall

(The Star) – The appointment of an ambulance driver as a director of a Terengganu Government-linked company by embattled Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Ahmad Said has created another controversy involving Ahmad and several Barisan Nasional assemblymen here.

Several assemblymen claimed they were unhappy over the driver’s appointment as well as those of two former primary school teachers as directors in a subsidiary company and state-owned hospital in Kuantan, Pahang.

Terengganu Barisan Nasional Backbenchers Club chairman Datuk Rosol Wahid claimed these appointments were upsetting a number of assemblymen.

At least 18 assemblymen, who are calling themselves the Group of 18, are said to be applying pressure on Ahmad to rescind the appointments.

Initially there were only 13 assemblymen who were against Ahmad but now five more are said to have joined the group.

“He (Ahmad) is attempting to Kijalnise (referring to Mentri Besar’s Kijal constituency) the state administration by roping in his supporters and appointing them to helm executive positions in state-owned agencies regardless of whether they are qualified or not,” Rosol said yesterday.

Asked whether the group was applying pressure to oust the mentri besar, Rosol replied that they had no intention to do so but was calling for a change in the way the state was being managed.

He, however, claimed that the group hoped there would be a change in the leadership.

“This Friday is D-Day. We heard the Prime Minister would make a decision and God willing, the impasse (between Ahmad and the group of 18) will come to an end,” he said.

Ahmad, who has cancelled his overseas trip and several scheduled events here until Friday, could not be reached for comment.