New Ipoh mayor to take over by end of the month, says Perak MB

IPOH: A new Ipoh mayor is expected to start duties by the end of this month, says Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Ahmad Faizal Azumu.

He said with this, the problems of the Ipoh City Council not having a mayor would be resolved.

Asked on the status of Datuk Zamri Man, who had gone absent without leave for "months", Ahmad Faizal said the state secretariat office would take the necessary action according to procedure.

"What is important is that a new mayor will start duties soon, and all matters in the council will be conducted as normal.

"We had discussed matters pertaining to the problems concerning the council in our state executive council meetings," he told reporters after the ground-breaking ceremony of a religious school in Chemor near here Sunday (April 21).

State Housing and Local Government Committee chairman Paul Yong had said on Saturday (April 20) that a new mayor is set to be appointed soon after the last one was removed.

Yong had said that Zamri had not given any letter informing that he was sick to the local government authorities or even to him.

Ahmad Faizal said it would be better for the state secretariat office to investigate the former mayor before making any decisions.

"He (Zamri) could not be found anywhere, there was no information on him, so that was the problem," he added.

On the new mayor, Ahmad Faizal said he could not announce the name yet.

"But I can tell you all (media) that he is a local from Perak, has been in the civil service in various places, full of experience, and he can speak Japanese as well," he added.