JOHOR BARU: Johor Umno has slammed the state government's move of terminating the services of village heads and community leaders in the state, saying that it was ‘motivated by revenge’.
Its liaison committee chairman Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin such decision should not be made in a rush and urged the state government to reconsider the directive, which would start tomorrrow.
"It was being done in a rush and without any clear and solid justification."
He said the directive, issued through a letter dated May 28, from the menteri besar came as a shock to everyone.
“If the termination was done to lessen the financial burden of the state government, like what the federal government is currently doing, then it made no sense because Johor has a surplus budget,” said Khaled in a statement.
“Unlike the Special Affairs Department (Jasa) and Biro Tatanegara (BTN), village heads and community leaders are people without political interests and they are only focused on providing services to the community in their areas.
“The move to terminate them abruptly is like an attempt by the state government to assert it’s power,” said Khaled, adding that the move was clearly motivated by revenge and politics.
“This shows that the state government is political, hasty and unprofessional in managing grassroot leaders.” said Khaled.