In Selangor, a looming battle for power

ARCHIVES 2009

By admin-s On Aug 21, 2009

(The Malaysian Insider) SHAH ALAM, Aug 21 – The growing speculation among political circles here of impending crossovers and the imminent collapse of the Selangor government is being dismissed by Pakatan Rakyat (PR) officials here as part of what they claim are Barisan Nasional’s (BN) attempts to destabilise the state administration.

PR sources appear to confirm that the alliance of PAS, PKR and DAP suspect BN may have already secured the defection of as many as three PR state lawmakers from PAS and two from PKR.

But one source told The Malaysian Insider today that the number of possible defections so far is inadequate for any attempt to topple the state government.

However, he said even a single crossover may be enough to destabilise the state government by causing mistrust among the PR component parties.

“I feel BN true intention is to distract the state government from its main task of administrating Selangor,” he said.

So far, PR officials say, Mentri Besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim still holds the option of calling snap elections.

Another PR political analyst said Khalid’s administration is banking on the belief that BN was not prepared to go toe-to-toe in a state election.

Speculation of a BN move to topple the state government has been fuelled by the existence of a letter purportedly written by unnamed anti-graft officers which is being investigated by the authorities.