As Pakatan frets over missing two, BN also has doubts about three of its own

By Leslie Lau/SAS@MEDIA PKR HULUSGR
KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 1 – Barisan Nasional (BN) is now facing disquiet over the loyalty of three of its own assemblyman in Perak, even as Pakatan Rakyat (PR) continues to be put-out by two of its “missing” legislators.
Deputy Umno president Datuk Seri Najib Razak had called for an emergency meeting with all Perak state lawmakers at his residence in Putrajaya yesterday morning.
He had wanted to be briefed about the problems on the ground in Perak following the defection of one Umno lawmaker to PKR.
But three assemblymen were missing from the briefing session.
The three are Datuk Ahmad Pakeh Adam (Lintang), Datuk Hamdi Abu Bakar (Pengkalan Baharu) and Hamidah Osman (Sungai Rapat).
These three assemblymen had been speculated to be on the list of BN lawmakers who could possibly be crossing over to PR after Umno’s Bota assemblyman Datuk Nasarudin Hashim defected to PKR and strengthened the PR government’s slim majority in the state assembly.
The Malaysian Insider understands that Hamdi said he was out of town in Kota Bharu; Pakeh claimed he saw the text message sent after midnight on Friday asking him to attend the meeting only yesterday afternoon (By which the meeting would have ended); Hamidah said she had a function to attend in Ipoh.
With Perak’s political situation continuing to be in a state of flux, the PR government is already facing intense pressure because two of its executive councillors appear to have gone missing.
PKR’s Behrang assemblyman Jamaluddin Mat Radzi, is the state entrepreneur development and cooperatives committee chairman while Changkat Jering assemblyman Mohd Osman Jailu is the chairman of the tourism and NGO committee.
There have been swirling rumours that Jamaluddin and Mohd Osman, who were charged in a Sessions Court on Aug 25 last year with allegedly receiving bribes over the application for a RM180mil housing project in Sri Iskandar in Perak Tengah, may have decided to defect to Umno in the hopes of getting off the charge.
Their case comes up for hearing on Feb 10.
Speculation is also rife that Hee Yit Fong, the deputy state assembly speaker and a DAP assemblyman is considering a defection to MCA.
The Malaysian Insider understands she wants to leave DAP because she does not get along with Nga Kor Ming, a DAP state exco member and Ngeh Koo Ham, the Perak DAP boss and senior exco member.
She is supposed to be meeting with MCA president Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat tonight to discuss handover terms.
But some Perak DAP members claim that they are unfazed by the speculation regarding Hee because they claim all DAP lawmakers had signed an undated resignation letter which would be executed in the event any legislator crosses over to another party.
PR insiders in the state say that their main concern is the loyalty of PKR lawmakers, especially the two missing exco members.