BENTONG - The claim by the leadership of Perikatan Nasional (PN) to change the administration of the Pahang state government if they win the by-election of the Pelangai State Legislative Assembly is described as an attempt to intimidate the people.
Pahang Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Wan Rosdy Wan Ismail said any leader should not make the sentiment as used by the PN Chairman Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.
"This is a slander that they use to confuse the people and scare them that there will be a change of government.
"As politicians, we should talk about hope, about the well-being of the people. Not by creating a sentiment of scaring the people, making up false stories and imagining something false," he said when met by reporters after attending the Veterans Casual Chat programme in Kampung Bukit Gajah here on Wednesday.
He commented on Muhyiddin's statement that he did not rule out the opportunity to form a government after the Pelangai by-election following rumours that there were members of the state assembly who would jump the party if the PN candidate won in Pelangai.
This was in relation to Pahang state assembly, which was one of the states that had yet to implement the Anti-Hoping Bill for assemblymen since it came into force at the Federal level on Oct 5 last year.
Commenting on the matter, Wan Rosdy said that the Anti-Hoping Bill in Pahang could not be implemented at this time because it did not get the support of two-thirds or 28 assemblymen.
He said this was because the opposition had previously stated that they did not support the bill.
"Because they (the opposition) say they do not support it. Even if we bring it up (and) they don't support it, it would not pass because we (the government) do not have two-thirds, we only have 25. For two-thirds we need 28 assemblymen," he said.
Despite that, he said all government assemblymen he pledged and signed the agreement to be loyal to the government under his leadership.
In the same development, he said, the sentiment that PN tried to play on would not influence voters to choose Barisan Nasional (BN) candidates in Pelangai.
"Because the Pulai and Simpang Jeram by-elections clearly showed that what they (the opposition) said was a wave and so on did not happen.
"We know we are on the right side, we will do our job to take care of the people and what has been done in Pahang can be evaluated," he said.
It was reported that there was a viral poster on social media showing Pas Deputy President Datuk Seri Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man would be declared as Pahang Menteri Besar if PN won the Pelangai state assembly by-election.
There were also rumours that if PN won in Pelangai, four representatives from BN would support PN to form the state government.
However, Muhyiddin denied that he knew who the assemblymen were but welcomed them to join PN.