‘Ignore Khusrin’, Selangor govt told
By HarakahDaily
PETALING JAYA, Jan 3: As former director of Selangor Islamic Religious Department (JAIS) Khusrin Munawi reports for duty today as the new state secretary following his controversial appointment, former PKR deputy president Dr Syed Husin Ali said the state administration could choose to just ignore his presence.
Khusrin is scheduled to take his oath of office before Menteri Besar Khalid Ibrahim on Thursday, in spite of strong objection from the latter that he had not been consulted by the Federal government who named Khusrin.
Syed Husin, who is Dewan Negara senator from Selangor, however said the state government “could function without him (Khusrin) doing his official duty”.
Earlier, constitutional law expert Dr Abdul Aziz Bari said Khusrin’s appointment was questionable and said the law favoured the state government and the MB, suggesting that the Pakatan Rakyat government bring the matter to court.
“Under the state constitution, the power to appoint the ex-officio members of the exco — including the State Secretariat — is with the Sultan. But he (the Sultan) has to consider the names submitted by the relevant service commission; and before he does that, the Sultan must consider the advice of the MB,” Aziz was quoted by online news portal The Malaysian Insider.
A doubtful Syed Husin however said the country’s biased judiciary meant there was no hope to solve the impasse through the courts.
“The state constitution favours MB, he (Aziz) said. But what guarantee for the court to favour him (MB)? No assurance justice will be meted, even if Prof Aziz opines Constitution favours MB on state secretary issue,” he wrote on Twitter.
‘Sabotage’
Meanwhile, Khalid accused the government’s Chief Secretary Sidek Hassan, who announced Khusrin’s appointment, of being “unconstitutional, irresponsible and unprofessional”.
