Malacca Harapan lawmakers pledge to support Adly

Fourteen Pakatan Harapan state lawmakers today pledged support for Chief Minister Adly Zahari following speculation that a coup was looming.

In their joint statement today, however, the Harapan lawmakers did not mention the speculated coup attempt directly.

"We reject any attempt to disregard the people's mandate or attempts to undermine the principle of electoral democracy," said the group.

The group said Adly had shown that he was credible and had administered the state transparently.

"The state government's focus is to fulfil the needs of the rakyat through programmes and policies that are progressive, inclusive and innovative.

"We support and fully trust Adly to continue leading the state and fulfilling Harapan's election pledges," said the group.

Currently, Harpan forms the Malacca government with a simple majority by virtue of holding 15 seats in the 28-seat assembly.

A single defection from Harapan will result in a hung assembly.

Sources had told Malaysiakini that two members of the Malacca cabinet - Mohd Rafiq Naizamohideen and Noor Effandi Ahmad - were part of a plot to destabilise the Malacca government.

When contacted, Rafiq denied the allegation. Both Rafiz and Effandi had signed the joint statement issued this evening.

Speculation on Harapan's internal strife was made public when PKR president Anwar Ibrahim dropped wide hints in Parliament about attempts to seek new political alignments.

Following this, Harapan's presidential council accused Umno's Hishammuddin Hussein of covert attempts to stitch a deal to form a new federal government sans DAP and Amanah.

Hishammuddin has denied the allegation.