PADANG TERAP: Kedah Pakatan Harapan-Barisan Nasional (PH-BN) today launched the "Kalih Bagi Sama" (Change to Streamline) slogan for the upcoming state election campaign, aimed at aligning the state administration with the federal's unity government.
Kedah BN chairman Datuk Seri Mahdzir Khalid said the slogan was chosen to send a clear message to voters on the importance of aligning state and federal government administrations for Kedah's development.
The state Umno liaison committee chairman said although there was nothing wrong with Kedah under the Perikatan Nasional (PN) administration, aligning the state with the federal government was the best option for Kedahans.
"I know from my experience as a former menteri besar, it is best that the state and federal government administrations are aligned with each other.
"Not that there's anything wrong with it (opposition-led states). But aligning with the federal government is the best for the development of the state.
"Once both state and federal governments are aligned, we can put politics aside and focus on the people, the future and the development of the state," he said after hosting the Kedah Umno Hari Raya Aidilfitri Open House in Padang Kerasak here today.
Present were Kedah Pakatan Harapan chairman Datuk Mahfuz Omar, Kedah DAP chairman Tan Kok Yew, and Kedah Parti Amanah Negara chairman Datuk Dr Ismail Salleh.
Mahdzir said many planned projects for Kedah would require strong cooperation between the state and federal governments.
Thus, he stressed that it would be more efficient if the next state government is aligned with the federal government.
"In Kedah, we can see several industries and sectors having a high degree of dependency on a good state-federal government relationship, especially in the tourism, industrial, education and agriculture sectors.
"There are many more sectors that require cooperation with the federal government. For the sake of the people, let's change this state government in the upcoming election," he added.
Mahfuz said the Kedah PH-BN aimed to win at least 19 seats in the state polls to secure a simple majority to form the new state government.
"InsyaAllah (God willing), everything is very positive right now. We are focused on the task at hand. We have identified seats that we will pay attention to.
"We are targeting at the very least 19 seats. That should be enough to form the next state government," he said.
The upcoming state elections for Kedah, Penang, Kelantan, Terengganu, Selangor and Negri Sembilan are due to be held by July or August.
All six states had earlier decided not to hold state elections together with the 15th General Election in November since it was held during the monsoon flood season.
The six states are expected to dissolve their respective state legislative assemblies by the end of June to pave the way for the state polls.