Terengganu MB denies 'cold war' with federal govt

Terengganu Menteri Besar Ahmad Samsuri Mokhtar has denied allegations of a "cold war" between state leaders and the federal government following their absence at a programme in conjunction with Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s visit to the state last Thursday.

Samsuri said the state government had no problem working with the federal government, especially in common interest matters, adding that their absence was due to a miscommunication.

"What happened was due to a communication problem and I don’t want to prolong this issue," he said in Kuala Berang yesterday.

"During the prime minister's recent visit, I was not informed of any specific business with the state government. Therefore, we only helped in terms of logistics and transport... nothing else was requested," he said, adding that the previous practice had seen the Prime Minister’s Office informing the state government of the purpose of visits and who is involved.

In the meantime, Samsuri said the state government had not been called for any official meeting with the central government.

However, he said he was expected to attend an event for the prime minister to deliver his mandate to state government heads and Cabinet members in Kuala Lumpur this Thursday.

In another development, Samsuri said he left it to the authorities to investigate Terengganu Umno's claim that PAS had distributed money to the people during the 15th general election (GE15) in November last year.

"That is the right provided by GE law to any party who is not satisfied for any reason. The petition will be dealt with in a legal manner by all parties," he said.

On Jan 3, Terengganu Umno chief Ahmad Said filed a petition at the Kuala Terengganu High Court to annul the GE15 results for the Marang, Kemaman and Kuala Terengganu parliamentary seats, alleging that PAS had bribed voters by distributing financial aid a few days before polling day.