As Terengganu MB, Ahmad Said controversial from start to end
(Malay Mail Online) – Datuk Seri Ahmad Said came to be Terengganu mentri besar under a cloud of controversy five years ago and yesterday left the position in an even bigger storm.
A little-known name prior to 2008, the Kijal assemblyman was catapulted into the nation’s eye when he was unexpectedly put forth as the Terengganu Sultan’s choice to become the state’s mentri besar following the year’s general election.
The move had stunned Umno then, having already lined up Datuk Seri Idris Jusoh to return the post after retaining the state following a so-called “political tsunami” that cost the Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition Selangor, Penang, Kedah, Kelantan and Perak, the last of which it regained a year later.
Despite Umno’s insistence that Idris had the support of all the other BN assemblymen, Sultan Tuanku Mizan Zainal Abidin — who was then also the Yang di-Pertuan Agong — persisted with his choice of Ahmad Said.
This led then-Prime Minister Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to argue that Idris was the rightful mentri besar and Ahmad’s appointment by the Sultan to be unconstitutional, insisting the Ruler must accept the candidate nominated by the majority of the assemblyman.
Umno also stripped Ahmad of his membership for disobeying party orders by accepting the appointment.
The impasse had led to ugly public spats as both camps sought to make their case, before Umno eventually backed down to accept the state Ruler’s decision, with Abdullah apologising to the royal house for disputing its choice.
But the acrimony within Umno in the state never ended, festering over the years as those still aligned to Idris continued to openly dispute Ahmad’s administration.
Leading up to Election 2013, there were fears that the Umno and BN would face internal sabotage by those still disgruntled over Ahmad’s appointment as mentri besar, possibly gifting the state to the opposition.
In the May 5 general election, the coalition retained the state by the slimmest of margins, taking 17 seats to the 14 won by PAS and 1 secured by PKR. Both PAS and PKR are allies in the Pakatan Rakyat pact together with DAP.
The rivalries between the two Umno faction again resurfaced during the Kuala Besut by-election last year, in which Idris, now education minister II, was appointed campaign director ahead of Ahmad.
In the midst of a campaign to prevent a possible deadlocked state assembly, Umno was forced to fend off of talks of continued infighting between the two camps.
“I don’t have a problem,” Idris said when asked to comment on his alleged rivalry with Ahmad while making the rounds in Kuala Besut.
During campaigning then, rivals also accused Ahmad of intentionally allowing the RM400 million Knowledge Park in Besut, where Idris is member of parliament, fall into neglect. The education hub was a pet project by Idris before he was replaced as mentri besar.
Most recently, Ahmad courted controversy when he headed a 15-day mission to Antarctica in the South Pole in January, at a reported cost of at least RM1 million in public funds.
The trip to the South Pole was described by DAP lawmaker Tony Pua as more ludicrous than former Selangor mentri besar Dr Mohd Khir Toyo’s “technical trips” to Disneyland in the United States.
Ahmad’s resignation from Umno was announced after Seberang Takir assemblyman Datuk Ahmad Razif Abd Rahman was sworn in last night as the new Terengganu mentri besar.
Ahmad, who was reappointed Terengganu mentri besar for a second term on May 9 last year, was forced to step down from office mid-term, reportedly due to the BN’s weakest polls performance in a decade.
BN barely kept the state government with 17 state seats against Pakatan Rakyat’s 15 seats in Election 2013.
