Again, Hassan Ali stirs up trouble for Pakatan

(Malaysian Mirror) – Hassan Ali, the PAS leader who recently plunged the Pakatan Rakyat into controversy with Muslim voters by unilaterally calling for a ban on beer sales, has again stepped on the toes of his colleagues in the Selangor state executive council.

Already, the Gombak Setia assemblyman is viewed as a traitor or a planted Trojan horse by many in the Pakatan and few have doubts that he will be among the first to jump ship to Umno when the crunch comes.

Why do they think so? Partly because he was among the prime movers who in 2008 urged for PAS to form the Selangor state government with Umno instead of alliance partners PKR and DAP.

Also because recently, he has been deliberately taking aim at non-Malay colleagues such as Ronnie Liu and Teng Chang Khim.

According to party insiders, he has been intentionally spinning issues he has against them with a Chinese versus Malay-dominance twist.

And his goal, they claim, was not only to raise communal feelings amongst the Malays but also to set the stage for Umno leaders such as Khir Toyo to attack the Pakatan.

“There is no communication breakdown among coalition members. Hasan Ali is the only problem in the coalition and he has been consistently inconsistent on various issues,” Teng, who is also the state Speaker, told the press.

DAP colleague and Klang MP Charles Santiago minced no words when he called for PAS to discipline Hassan, demanding his removal both as state commissioner and exco member.

“We will be stronger and better in Selangor without him. PAS should remove him to protect our best interests,” said Santiago.

“He is wrongfully giving the impression that things are not well. There always appears to be two voices to everything with him around.”

Trying to help avert a public inquiry on BN spending?

Without even giving time for the dust to settle on his allegedly mischievous call on banning beer in Muslim-majority areas, Hassan has embarked on his next escapade.

He has publicly slammed Menteri Besar Khalid Ibrahim's Select Committee for Competency, Accountability and Transparency for holding a public inquiry on the way Barisan Nasional assemblymen had spent their state allocations.

This even as his Pakatan colleagues are still simmering at the memory of the beer episode because they say it was not at all about alcohol – which is taboo to Muslims – but the manner in which Hassan tried to stab them in the back.

“He wants to send a message that he is the one who will protect the Malays in Selangor,” said Santiago.

“There is no reason why he should attack Selcat in the open. He’s trying to take advantage of the situation to gain politically,” Teng said.

However, some of his PAS colleagues including Iskandar Abdul Samad have tried to speak up for him.

 “That doesn’t mean there’s a rift between us, because at the end of the day, we can all sit down together, discuss the matter amicably and arrive at a single decision,” Iskandar said.

Hassan, who does not deny that he would like to MB instead of Khalid, himself says that he is committed to both his religion and his community and will not bow to pressure to do any less than he believes he should.

“We must not victimise the district officers in our quest to find the truth for they have served the government of the day and now most of them are aligned to Selangor-led Pakatan government. We must not create bad blood that will have a ripple effect with 23,000 other civil servants in the state,” he said.