IPOH, March 17 — Datuk Seri Ahmad Faizal Azumu, who was reappointed as the Perak Mentri Besar, officially began his duties at the Mentri Besar’s Office at the State Secretariat Building here this morning.
Ahmad Faizal, who arrived at the building at 8.30am, was received by state Deputy Secretary (management) Nor Sham Binti Rahman and state finance officer Datuk Zulazlan Abu Hassan together with officers from the department and agencies.
No reporters were allowed to cover the programme after Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin last night announced the implementation of the ‘movement control order’ from March 18 to 31 due to the Covid-19 outbreak.
“The programme was held in a small scale, as a measure to create social distancing in order to curb the spread of Covid-19,” The Mentri Besar Office said in a statement today.
The 49-year-old was sworn in as the 13th Mentri Besar of Perak before the Sultan of Perak Sultan Nazrin Muizzuddin Shah at Istana Iskandariah on Friday afternoon.
The Chenderiang assemblyman is also the Perak Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) chairman.
Ahmad Faizal started his role as mentri besar by chairing the State Security Council meeting on Covid-19.
“He was briefed by the State Health Department before chairing the meeting.
“The purpose of the meeting is to discuss the administration of the state government, department and agencies following the implementation of the movement control order,” the statement read.
Last Monday, Ahmad Faizal announced that Bersatu had reached an agreement with Umno and PAS to form a new government under the Perikatan Nasional (PN) bloc.
With this, the PN coalition in Perak now consists of 25 Umno assemblymen, four Bersatu assemblymen and three PAS assemblymen.
The PN bloc was also strengthened with the exit of two DAP assemblymen and one Amanah assemblyman from their respective party from the Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition.
Subsequently, Ahmad Faizal, who was also the former Mentri Besar under the PH government, resigned on Tuesday after claiming that he no longer held the majority.
Following the development, Ahmad Faizal, Perak Umno chairman Datuk Saarani Mohamad and Perak PAS commissioner Razman Zakaria were nominated by their respective parties for the Mentri Besar post.
On Friday, the Perak Palace announced that the Perak Sultan had appointed Ahmad Faizal as the 13th Mentri Besar after receiving the trust of the majority of the state assemblymen.
