PEKAN: Former "political enemies" are set to become friends in the Pahang state legislative assembly.
That is how Pakatan Harapan (PH)'s three-term Teruntum assemblyman, Sim Chong Siang, described his relationship with his Barisan Nasional (BN) counterparts after being included in the 10-member Pahang executive council line-up today.
The PKR elected representative, who used to be very vocal in the Pahang state assembly sitting, said he was prepared to set aside differences for the sake of helping the people in Pahang.
"It feels a little strange (to work together with BN) because I used to 'bash' them, but we are now like siblings. This is a historical moment.
"We will move on as the priority is to ensure that the people receive the benefits. We did work in the past (BN and PH), but there were different opinions, so we could not achieve much.
"Being part of the state exco will allow me to understand the administration better and direct my questions through the proper channel for immediate solutions. I have no problems with BN.
"When I raise an issue, it concerns the people, and I believe they need an answer," he said at Istana Abu Bakar here today.
Earlier, the 10 elected representatives — eight from BN and two from PH — including Sim and Triang assemblyman
Leong Yu Man from DAP, received their letters of appointment and were sworn in before Regent of Pahang Tengku Hassanal Ibrahim Alam Shah Al-Sultan Abdullah.
Pahang Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Wan Rosdy Wan Ismail was sworn in on Nov 28 to lead a state government comprising BN and PH after Pahang ended up with a hung state assembly following the 15th General Election.
Sim said he was grateful to Pahang PH chairman Datuk Seri Amirudin Shari, who is also Selangor menteri besar, for proposing his name be included in the exco line-up.