DPM dismisses Sarawak's shadow cabinet as illogical

Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin described the move by the opposition in Sarawak to form a shadow cabinet as illogical.

He said this was based on the fact that the BN still controlled two-thirds of the seats in the State Legislative Assembly and the opposition did not have a substantial number of seats after the 10th Sarawak election last month.

"It will not happen, it's merely an imagination," he told reporters after attending the Worker's Day 2011 celebration.

He was also convinced that the people of Sarawak, who had chosen to give their trust to the BN to form the state government in the state election last month, were not interested to know further on the opposition's shadow cabinet.

He said BN leaders and the people should not be deceived by the political ploy adopted by the opposition which did not bring any benefit.

"The government which had been formed had carried out what were stated in the manifesto.    

"What is important is that the BN government had discharged its responsibilities in filling up the agenda for socio-economic development which we had listed in the election manifesto," he said.

Last Sunday, the DAP which won 12 state seats had formed a shadow cabinet, but this was criticised by PKR because it did not agree with the 'leadership' list drawn up.

Before the election, the DAP had agreed to recognise Sarawak PKR head Baru Bian as the chief minister if the opposition were to win, but now the DAP had changed its mind when it named its state chairman, Wong Ho Leng, as the opposition leader and head of the shadow cabinet.

Kedah Umno to appeal over UUM quit rent issue

Meanwhile, on the rebate on quit rent at Universiti Utara Malaysia in Kedah, Muhyiddin said although it was a decision of the Kedah state government, the people should take it as an indication and evaluate for themselves what the BN could do and what the opposition could not do.

"It looks like the Kedah government does not have much resources. It has no other way but to impose a higher quit rent than what the BN had imposed," he said.

In a related development, Kedah Umno said it will send a letter to Menteri Besar Azizan Abdul Razak appealing the state government to extend quit rent rebate UUM.  

Its education bureau chief, Abdul Aziz Sheikh Fadzir, said the move aimed to assist the university to regain the rebate offered by the previous state government.

"We'll send the appeal letter to Azizan either tomorrow or on Monday," he told reporters after attending a function in Gurun today.

On Thursday, Azizan said that the Land and Mines Office had rejected UUM's application for a five-year quit rent rebate.

The university will thus have to pay the full amount of over RM1.7 million or face late payment penalty.

- Bernama