Melaka’s history of frequent chief minister changes should serve as a warning, says Adly Zahari

Pakatan Harapan (PH) candidate for the Bukit Katil state seat Adly Zahari (left) during an interview recording with Bernama TV journalists in conjunction with the 16th Melaka State Election here yesterday. — Bernama pic

First Published: Tuesday, 03 Nov 2026 4:14 PM MYT

MELAKA, Nov 3 (Bernama) -- Melaka’s previous experience of seeing chief ministers replaced within a short period should serve as a lesson to all political parties to ensure the stability of the state administration is maintained after the 16th Melaka State Election, according to former Chief Minister Adly Zahari.

The Melaka Pakatan Harapan (PH) chairman said political and administrative stability in the state should be a priority for all parties, rather than focusing solely on who would lead the state government after the election.

Adly, who is also Deputy Defence Minister and PH candidate for the Bukit Katil seat, said political stability must be taken seriously by all parties as it is an important ingredient in ensuring a stable administration that can sustain policies and development agendas.

“The issue is stability, not who wants to lead and so on. I think there are many ways we can use after the election. Whoever leads, our commitment is to ensure political stability,” he told Bernama.

Adly said one possible approach was the implementation of a Confidence and Supply Agreement (CSA), similar to the one at the federal level, to ensure that the government has sufficient support to govern and pass the budget if it has only a slim majority.

Adly said an inclusive approach, including providing allocations to opposition state assemblymen, was among the measures he had implemented while serving as Chief Minister to ensure that all elected representatives could carry out their responsibilities to the community.

He said that when he led the state government, an allocation of RM60,000 was provided to each opposition state assemblyman to enable them to operate service centres and appoint staff to assist local residents.

He said the approach was important to ensure that elected representatives, regardless of whether they were from the government or opposition, had the means to serve the community while reducing political tensions.

Touching on his service in the Bukit Katil constituency, Adly said 231 of the 255 applications and complaints received from residents over the past two years had been resolved.

“Most involved infrastructure, drainage and drains. For schools, they requested speed bumps because vehicles were travelling too fast and endangering children on their way to school,” he said.

He said all applications received through various channels, including social media, the Information Department and elected representatives’ service centres, were recorded and forwarded to the relevant agencies for action and monitoring.

“Every time there is a meeting, I will look at the list of applications and ask whether they have been resolved. If they cannot be resolved, I will go down myself with the relevant agencies to see how the matter can be resolved,” he said.

Adly is facing a four-cornered contest against Perikatan Nasional candidate Muhammad Ridzuan Mohd Sarif, Parti Bersama Malaysia candidate Dr Aliza Che Amran and independent candidate Abu Bakar Sabudin.

The Election Commission has set Nov 14 as polling day, with early voting on Nov 10.

For the latest news on the 16th Melaka State Election, visit https://election.bernama.com/prn/melaka/2026/ — Bernama