Call to purge PPBM’s southern rebels ahead of party polls

The focus has now shifted to Dr Sahruddin Jamal, whose first days as the Johor menteri besar have been marred by infighting in Johor PPBM, the lynchpin of the state government.

(FMT) – Sahruddin, who took over from Osman Sapian before he came under fire from senior PPBM leaders for allowing a reshuffle of the state exco line-up, is now being pushed by PPBM division chiefs in Johor to helm the party’s state chapter.

The division chiefs are unhappy with the central leadership’s choice of Mazlan Bujang.

Mazlan’s appointment as Johor PPBM chief on April 29 came days after he was dropped from the new exco line-up, in a departure from the norm where the MB usually leads the party in his state.

But a senior PPBM leader warned that the recent actions by the state leaders were bad for the MB in his first few weeks in office.

He said Sahruddin needs to be his own man, not “a sheep to be led by wolves to the slaughter”.

“He did not listen to the prime minister before with regards to the exco line-up, and getting himself involved in this ridiculous attempt to defy the leadership is not a good start,” said the PPBM leader who is also a loyalist of party chairman Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

It was earlier reported that Mahathir was upset with Sahruddin for agreeing to reshuffle the exco line-up, defying a party decision to keep the 11-month-old state Cabinet intact.

The reshuffle was seen as acceding to a demand from the Johor palace, which has been involved in a tit-for-tat media war with Mahathir.

The PPBM leader, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the party must be firm in dealing with “rebel” members.

“These troublemakers need to be kicked out at the party elections,” he said.

Party polls will be held later this year.

Yesterday, former menteri besar Osman Sapian told FMT that division chiefs in the state had only proposed Sahruddin to helm the Johor chapter as he was the MB, but would would abide by any decision made by the central leadership.