Johor MB: S'pore polls won't affect my state
Although political pundits had expected the political opening created by the Singapore opposition in its recently concluded general election to shake Malaysia's political landscape, especially Johor, its Mentri Besar Abdul Ghani Othman begs to differ.
Although political pundits had expected the political opening created by the Singapore opposition in its recently concluded general election to shake Malaysia's political landscape, especially Johor, its Mentri Besar Abdul Ghani Othman begs to differ.
Recognising that many Malaysians, including Johoreans, are working in the island republic, Abdul Ghani, however, did not see them being influenced by the political atmosphere across the Johor straits.
"Whatever happens in Singapore, Johor has been like that all this while," he told reporters after attending the announcement ceremony of Petronas' refinery and petrochemicals integrated development project in Kuala Lumpur today.
Abdul Ghani ( left ) was fielding a question on whether the Singapore opposition's recent historic breakthrough in its general election, winning six out of 87 parliamentary seats, would lend momentum to the opposition in Johor.
The Johor BN chairperson revealed that the ruling coalition has been observing the voting pattern of those working in Singapore but found nothing to support the notion.
Past on Johor's side
"I think we need to appreciate that what happened at Singapore has its own Singaporean reasons for it, but Johor has been there all this while," he added.
"In the end Johor is still one of the BN strongholds that you can find in the country," said a smiling Abdul Ghani.
However, he stressed that the coalition will not take the voters' support for granted.
On the call by Umno president Najib Abdul Razak to brace the party for a general election, Abdul Ghani said that Johor BN is well prepared for snap polls as early as November.
"BN Johor is already in election mode. We have already activated our machinery at the district level," he added.
"Well, as far as Johor is concerned, yes, we're working on it. Now we have to get our party machinery ready," he said, when asked whether the state BN is ready for snap polls in November.
"We're quite confident of the support of voters across all sections."
During Umno's 65th anniversary dinner on Wednesday, Najib had told party members to close ranks and to stop squabbling among themselves as the next polls was just around the corner.
