Ask your Asahan candidate about fisherfolk compensation, Najib tells Adly

MALACCA POLLS | Former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak has fired back at Malacca Pakatan Harapan chief Adly Zahari for suggesting that the BN-led Malacca government had prior to the 2018 general election spent money intended as compensation for fisherfolk in the state.

Najib, who is the BN advisory board chairperson, said Adly would do better to direct queries to Harapan's Asahan candidate Idris Haron.

Idris was the chief minister for the BN-led Malacca government from 2013 to 2018. Adly took over as the chief minister after Harapan won in the 2018 general election.

"He (Adly) claimed that the BN government, before Harapan took over, had misused RM33 million in compensation intended for fishermen.

"We don't know if it is true or not but I urge him to ask Harapan's candidate for Asahan.

"When you have discussed among yourself what actually happened, you can share the facts with us," he said in a Facebook post.

The Harapan government collapsed in 2020 due to defections and was replaced by an Umno-Bersatu alliance. But that government, too, was short-lived after it suffered a similar fate.

Idris, along with three other assemblypersons, had withdrawn their support for the Umno-Bersatu government led by Umno's Sulaiman Md Ali in a bid to form a new government with Harapan.

Sulaiman, in a bid to thwart the move, sought a dissolution of the state legislative assembly, paving the way for fresh polls.

Idris was subsequently sacked from Umno for his move and has been fielded by PKR as Harapan's candidate for Asahan.

Adly, after visiting the fisherfolk in Kelebang amid the Malacca polls today, revealed that after Harapan came to power, it discovered that some RM33 million in compensation were owed to the fisherfolk but was never paid out.

This was in relation to reclamation works for the Tanjung Bruas port expansion which had adversely impacted the fisherfolk's livelihood.

He said the BN government had used the funds intended for fisherfolk to pay the salaries of civil servants and run government events due to budgetary shortfall.

Adly said under his leadership, the Harapan government sought to raise the money to cover the exhausted fund and have distributed some RM8 million to the fisherfolk before the state government collapsed in March 2020 due to defections.

The 12-day campaign for the Malacca polls will come to a close on Friday. Malaccans will go to the polls on Saturday (Nov 20).