The political secretary of the federal territories minister today dismissed claims by Batu Umno that it had been sidelined, following the division’s move to cut ties with Pakatan Harapan (PH).
Nor Azrina Surip said the rolling out of government initiatives had always involved the participation of various parties, including Umno.
She cited the appointment of Umno and Barisan Nasional leaders to the Kuala Lumpur City Hall advisory board and Putrajaya Corporation, among others, adding that such appointments were merit-based and had been thoroughly vetted.
Azrina said that Titiwangsa MP Johari Ghani of Umno had also been made a permanent member of the Federal Territories Minister Council.
“It is therefore unreasonable that the failure by the likes of Datuk Gulam to manage the Ramadan bazaar is used to deny facts,” she said in a statement, referring to Batu Umno division chief Gulam Muszaffar Gulam Mustakim.
Two days ago, Gulam Muszaffar said the division had cut ties with PH in the federal territories, alleging unfair treatment over the allocation of residents’ representative council subzones.
He said the decision was unanimously made by the division’s political bureau after PH “failed to honour” its promise to allocate one of the six residents’ representative council subzones in Batu to Umno.
The party that is allocated a subzone is given the right to appoint members of the council for that area.
Gulam Muszaffar also hit out at federal territories minister Dr Zaliha Mustafa, accusing her of cancelling a scheduled meeting with Umno division chiefs last week without explanation.
He said that since taking office, Zaliha had not engaged him to discuss policies or strategies in the federal territories.
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