“Let us give a chance to this individual (Bashah) to prove his ability. Only then can we evaluate,” the Tabung Haji chairman told reporters today.

He was commenting on the swearing-in of the Kedah Umno deputy liaison committee chief as the state’s 12th MB this morning.

Ahmad Bashah replaces Mukhriz Mahathir following a two-week political crisis in the state. This came about after the majority of Kedah BN assemblymen claimed they had lost confidence in Mukhriz’s leadership.

Ahmad Bashah’s detractors had pointed out that Kedah fell to the Opposition when Ahmad Bashah was the state’s liaison chairman, while others said he only had secondary school education.

Mukhriz joked about Ahmad Bashah dozing off at a state palace function recently and hoped he would not nod off at the swearing-in ceremony today.

However, pictures of Ahmad Badshah, with his eyes closed at the ceremony today, went viral on social media.

Azeez said it was important for the people of Kedah to give their undivided support to the new Menteri Besar to guarantee the future of the state and its people.

Kedah Umno, Azeez added, would continue to use its “previous template”, which was for the Umno division chiefs to work as a team to ensure Barisan Nasional retained the state again in the 14th General Election (GE14).

“It doesn’t matter what people say, that under Ahmad Bashah’s leadership previously, Umno lost Kedah to the Opposition.

“But remember that because the division chiefs worked as a team, we managed to win 10 parliamentary seats compared with two seats previously.”