Khalid expected to meet elusive Port Klang rep tomorrow
Written by Yong Min Wei, The Edge
Selangor Menteri Besar Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim is expected to meet with the elusive Port Klang assemblyman Badrul Hisham Abdullah tomorrow to discuss the latter’s future as a state lawmaker.
Khalid said he had suggested the meeting and was confident it would take place to clear the air on the duties and responsibilities expected of an assemblyman to Port Klang constituents.
Speaking to reporters after a Pakatan Rakyat leadership council meeting yesterday, the menteri besar said Badrul, in his reply to a Parti Keadilian Rakyat (PKR) show-cause letter, had stated he could not carry out certain duties as state assemblyman partly due to personal reasons.
“We would have to discuss and overcome these problems,” Khalid said, adding that the Port Klang assemblyman was absent from a breaking of fast function held in conjunction with Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s visit to the constituency on Sunday.
“We were hoping that he (Badrul) could turn up but he did not and gave certain excuses for it,” he added.
It has been speculated for months that Badrul, a first-term PKR lawmaker, is likely to cross over to Umno as he was absent from many state functions and rarely seen in his constituency.
Khalid had said last month that the assemblyman was hard to contact as he had been suffering from a medical condition due to an accident.
On allegations that Badrul was disappointed on remarks by PKR leaders that he was underperforming, Khalid replied: “As an assemblyman, you have to carry out your duties. It is irrelevant whether there were such remarks.”
Asked on the relocation of the Hindu temple from Section 19 to Section 23 in Shah Alam, he said Shah Alam MP Khalid Samad, state executive councillor Rodziah Ismail and Shah Alam mayor Mazalan Md Noor had a preliminary meeting with the Sri Maha Mariamman temple committee on the new site, and they were expected to have concrete discussions on the matter soon.
“We must give them time so that they can contemplate on what is needed and come out with a good joint decision,” he said.
