Selangor Menteri Besar job up for grabs as PR, BN go to battle
PKR vice-president Mohamed Azmin Ali is also said to be vying for the Selangor Menteri Besar post. Mr Azmin is defending his Bukit Antarabangsa state seat, which, if he wins, would make him eligible to be Menteri Besar.
Yong Yen Nie, ST
WITH the battle for Selangor in full swing, the burning question of who will be Menteri Besar of Malaysia’s wealthiest and most industrialised state remains up in the air.
Neither the Pakatan Rakyat coalition, which has governed the state for the past five years, nor Prime Minister Najib Razak’s Barisan Nasional (BN) have unveiled their choice for Selangor state leader.
Mr Najib is releasing his list of Selangor state candidates today.
Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim announced Selangor state candidates from his Parti Keadilan Rakyat at a rally on Sunday in Hulu Kelang, Selangor. But he did not say if Menteri Besar Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim, who is from the PKR, would retain that post. However, Mr Anwar confirmed that Mr Khalid will move from his rural Ijok seat to contest in the urban seat of Port Klang.
Mr Khalid said he is willing to offer his services to the people for another term. He said: “No one dared to give PKR the responsibility to lead Selangor before this but we have since done it for five years…I hope the people will give me another term to see whether I am able to deliver the expectations or not.”
PKR vice-president Mohamed Azmin Ali is also said to be vying for the Selangor Menteri Besar post. Mr Azmin is defending his Bukit Antarabangsa state seat, which, if he wins, would make him eligible to be Menteri Besar.
Selangor, one of four states that went to the PR in the 2008 general election, is a key battleground. The state topped the country in new investments last year, at RM11.7 billion (S$4.8 billion). Selangor also has immense symbolic value since it surrounds the administrative capital of Putrajaya and the federal territory of Kuala Lumpur.
There are more than two million voters in Selangor, of which 660,000 are voting for the first time – the highest number of new voters of any state in the country.
Mr Khalid, a former corporate leader, is seen as a clean, if indecisive leader. Naming a Menteri Besar candidate for the state is crucial for both sides as it is a show of confidence.
On the BN side, several names have been bandied around as candidates for the post.
They include businessman Datuk Fateh Iskandar; Datuk Fuad Hassan, director-general of the Department of Special Affairs in the Information, Communications and Cultural Ministry; and state assemblymen Datuk Mohd Shamsudin Lias and Datuk Seri Subahan Kamal.
Things have heated up at political rallies recently in Selangor. Last week, former premier Tun Mahathir Mohamad spoke at a rally to “help save Selangor”, while PR leaders on Saturday called on young voters to defend the state.
