JOHOR BARU: Tebrau Bersatu chief and former state education, information, heritage and culture committee chairman Mazlan Bujang has quit Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) with immediate effect.

       He said on Thursday (Jan 27) that he and 23 other other Tebrau Bersatu branch chiefs and action committee members decided to leave the party and throw their support behind Barisan Nasional and the leadership of former Johor Mentri Besar Datuk Hasni Mohammad.

       "I have come to the decision to resign as the Tebrau Bersatu chief with immediate effect and quit Bersatu," said Mazlan.

       "I have made the decision so that we can give way to a more stable political environment and for the betterment of the Johor people in general," he said at a press conference at the Komplek Yayasan Warisan Johor here.

       Mazlan then added that he will continue to serve the people even without a political position.

       He also said that the failure of the two previous Mentri Besar from Pakatan Harapan to lead the previous state government and the failure of both parties to come up with a better Johor Mentri Besar candidate contributed to his decision.

       Mazlan said that his resignation letter would be sent immediately.

       When asked to comment on Johor Bersatu information chief Mohd Solihan Badri's statement on his frequent absence from meetings of Bersatu division chiefs, Mazlan said that he felt disrespected by Bersatu president Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin after he was removed from his post as the state Bersatu chief.

       "The Pagoh MP (Muhyiddin) never sent any representative to the meetings I had chaired, even though he had signed my promotion letter," said Mazlan

       "Should I show my respect to him even though he himself had never shown any respect to me?," he added, saying that he had sent a representative to attend the meeting with Muhyiddin on his behalf.

       When asked whether he would contest in the coming state election under a different party, Mazlan said he would leave the matter to fate.

       "It would be a lie if I say that there have been no invitations for me to join (a certain party) but for now let’s focus on helping Barisan Nasional and Datuk Hasni create a stable government," he said.