Melaka's UMNO Chief Minister To DAP, In Proverbs: "Leave If You Want, We Were Never Really Married"

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Four Pakatan Harapan (PH) state assemblymen in Melaka had withdrawn from the state government, unhappy that the state assembly had passed a constitutional amendment to increase the number of appointed assemblymen.

Melaka Chief Minister Datuk Seri Ab Rauf Yusoh had one response when news broke earlier that they were threatening to quit: “Dipersilakan” — go ahead.

The assemblymen from DAP objected to the state assembly’s decision to amend the constitution to increase the number of appointed, unelected state assemblymen — up to seven, under the new amendment.

Critics of such amendments typically argue that appointed seats dilute the weight of elected representatives — and by extension, the voters who put them there.

Melaka DAP followed through.

State chairman Khoo Poay Tiong announced the party’s withdrawal from the Barisan Nasional (BN)-led administration, confirming that its two state executive councillors, two deputy executive councillors, and the deputy speaker would resign from their posts.

Ab Rauf was direct: Barisan Nasional (BN) won enough seats in the last state election to govern Melaka on its own.

PH was never a formal coalition partner — there was no signed agreement, no power-sharing deal, no written arrangement of any kind.

PH assemblymen were included in the state government as a goodwill gesture, he said, to reflect the spirit of the federal-level unity government in Putrajaya — not because BN needed them.

If DAP — the main PH component party in Melaka — decides to leave, he said, that is their choice.

He will not stop them.

Ab Rauf reached for a metaphor to describe the relationship:

In plain terms: there was never a formal arrangement, so there is nothing to dissolve.

No assets to divide.

No paperwork to file.

READ MORE: DAP Threatens To Quit Melaka Government Over Proposed Appointed Assemblymen Law

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