“A lot of people have tried to overthrow me since day one. As you know, here I am, still the menteri besar,” he told reporters after a visit to the media room at the state legislative assembly here.

He was responding to a question on an audio recording which has gone viral of several people discussing the menteri besar’s performance.

It was alleged that one of the voices sounded like that of state Education, Technology, Science and Environment Committee chairman Abdul Aziz Bari, but he has denied this.

Faizal, who is state assemblyman for Chenderiang, said: “Anything can happen in the world now. Perhaps the audio (recording) is a fake, perhaps it is genuine.

“The matter has not been proven. We don’t have any problems at executive council meetings. I would not know if anything happens behind my back (but) as far as I can see, everything is running smoothly.”