Mohd Sharkar appointed as Pahang State Assembly Speaker

KUANTAN: Former Lanchang State Assemblyman Datuk Seri Mohd Sharkar Shamsudin was today appointed as the Pahang State Assembly Speaker.

The motion to appoint Mohd Sharkar was proposed by Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Wan Rosdy Wan Ismail and seconded by the State Agriculture, Agro-based Industry, Biotechnology and Education Committee chairman Datuk Seri Mohd Soffi Abd Razak with no objection from members of the house at the First Session meeting of the 15th Pahang State Assembly.

Mohd Sharkar replaced Datuk Seri Ishak Muhamad who was the State Assembly Speaker since 2013.

Temerloh-born Mohd Sharkar was the Barisan Nasional (BN) Lanchang Assemblyman for five terms, since 1999, before losing the seat in the recent 15th General Election (GE15).

He was formerly a State Executive Council (exco) and chaired the State Tourism, Culture, Environment, Plantation and Commodity Committee, as well as the Information, Science, Technology and Innovation Tourism Committee.

At today's State Assembly sitting, Mohd Sharkar was also appointed as a member of the state legislators.

For the record, in November 2020, the Pahang State Assembly passed an amendment to Article 18 of Part Two of the State Constitution to enable the appointment of five assemblymen without going through the election process to provide better services to the people.

Meanwhile, Bilut Assemblyman Lee Chin Chen, from Pakatan Harapan (PH), was elected as Pahang State Assembly Deputy Speaker. His name was also proposed by Wan Rosdy and seconded by Mohd Soffi.

Lee, who was the Opposition Leader in the State Assembly for the last term, became a Pahang assemblyman in 2013 after winning the Ketari seat in the 13th General Election before switching to the Bilut state seat in 2018.

Today also saw all 42 Pahang State Assembly members take their oath of office, beginning with Wan Rosdy and then the 10 state executive council members, followed by the other assemblymen, including Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man, who is a Cheka Assemblyman.

The Pahang government is formed through a collaboration between BN and PH after no party obtained a simple majority of 22 seats to form the state government after GE15.

In GE15, BN and Perikatan Nasional (PN) won 17 seats each, while PH won eight seats. Through the collaboration, Wan Rosdy was sworn in as Menteri Besar on Nov 28, followed by the 10 state executive council members, comprising eight from BN and the rest from PH, on Dec 2.

-- BERNAMA