Rep claims offered Malacca CM post if he returned to Harapan
Jailani Khamis says the offer came from DAP, PKR and Amanah but he remains committed to a PN state government.
Rembia assemblyperson Muhammad Jailani Khamis claims that three individuals from Pakatan Harapan tried to woo him back to the coalition by offering him the Malacca chief minister position.
Jailani, who defected from PKR to support Perikatan Nasional (PN) together with DAP's Pengkalan Batu representative Norhizam Hassan Baktee, said the offers came right after BN held a press conference this morning announcing an end to cooperation with Bersatu.
The end of cooperation shaved PN's numbers in the state assembly from 17 to 15. This is enough to form the state government with a simple majority but is vulnerable to collapse from defections.
Following BN's press conference, a statement allegedly from the state Harapan secretariat was circulated on WhatsApp, saying the coalition had decided to welcome back Jailani and Norhizam to form the state government once more.
Harapan has said that the statement is fake.
However, Jailani told Malaysiakini that the statement was "real but it is a lie, not true."
"They even offered me the chief ministership of Malacca [...] I have all the texts to prove it," he added.
He said the offers were made by three individuals - one each from Amanah, DAP, and PKR - but did not reveal their identities.
Jailani said he remained committed to a PN state government in Malacca.
In a video published by Sin Chew Daily, he is also heard telling reporters: "Even if they offer me the prime ministership, I will not go back (to Harapan)".
DAP's Ayer Keroh assemblyperson Kerk Chee Yee told Malaysiakini that he was not aware of any offers being made to Jailani.
The Malacca Harapan government collapsed last week when Bersatu and its two assemblypersons pulled out of the coalition.
Bersatu was supposed to join forces with BN to form a PN state government, with support from Jailani and Norhizam.
However, Malacca BN chief Abd Rauf Yusoh today declared that Bersatu would not be part of the new state government as the latter did not turn up for meetings to discuss their mutual cooperation.
