Ex-Perak assembly secretary joins PAS

FORMER Perak assembly secretary Abdullah Antong Sabri (pic) is officially a member of PAS.

This was confirmed yesterday by Perak PAS deputy commissioner Datuk Seri Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin who told The Malay Mail that Abdullah Antong, 56, had joined the party over the weekend.

Mohammad Nizar put to rest speculations on the matter over the weekend after Abdullah Antong, who is also a former Perak Land and Mines Department deputy director, was reportedly seen at a recent PAS function.

Mohammad Nizar, a former Perak menteri besar and current state opposition leader, said Abdullah Antong’s membership was the party’s “best bet” to unveil the wrongdoings of the current Barisan Nationalled state government.

“He can be our (PAS’s) best choice to expose Umno’s wrongdoings under (Perak Menteri Besar) Datuk Seri Zambry Abdul Kadir and also (former menteri besar) Tan Sri Mohammad Tajol Rosli,” he said when contacted yesterday.

However, Mohammad Nizar claimed to have obtained information that a senior state BN leader was sent to Abdullah Antong’s house to persuade him not to join PAS.

News of Abdullah Antong’s decision, which spread after several opposition bloggers reported his presence at a high-tea function with several new PAS members in Perak on Saturday, took PAS members by surprise.

At press time yesterday, attempts to contact Zambry were unsuccessful.

Abdullah Antong was previously criticised by opposition supporters in the state for his role in the 2009 Perak constitutional crisis, when he was suspended by speaker V. Sivakumar for not following the latter’s orders.

He subsequently left his position as state assembly secretary and took up his appointment in the Perak Land and Mines Department, before finally retiring.

He was reported as saying that his actions during the constitutional crisis, which saw current Menteri Besar Zambry usurp Mohammad Nizar as Perak Menteri Besar after defections from three opposition state assembly members to BN, was due to “orders received”.