Kajang rep quits ‘for the general good of PR’
(The Star) – Kajang assemblyman Lee Chin Cheh has resigned, paving the way for a by-election in the state.
His resignation adds another dramatic episode to the PKR saga that involved twists and turns in the issues of state development corporation PKNS and the Mentri Besar’s office.
Assembly Speaker Hannah Yeoh Tseow Suan, who announced Lee’s sudden exit from the House, declined to explain why he had quit.
“You have to ask him. I don’t want to speak on his behalf. My role is to inform you (that) I have received the resignation letter and the vacancy must be filled in 60 days,” Yeoh told reporters at her office here yesterday.
She would write to the Election Commission over Lee’s resignation, which took immediate effect.
She would not say if the resignation had anything to do with speculation that PKR adviser Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim wanted to be the Mentri Besar.
“I don’t want to comment on rumours and it’s premature to speculate,” she said. “The seat is vacant, that’s all.”
Lee, a lawyer, was a new face in the May 5 general election last year. He secured the seat in a six-cornered fight that also involved the Barisan Nasional, Berjasa and three Independents.
In an SMS message last night, Lee said he had vacated the seat for “the general good and to strengthen Pakatan Rakyat’s ability to run Selangor”.
A source said Lee could have been pressured to resign for apparently leaking confidential information pertaining to an alleged plan to remove Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim as Selangor Mentri Besar following the latter’s rift with PKR deputy president Azmin Ali.
Yeoh said Lee had come to her office to personally hand in his
resignation letter. Asked whether
it surprised her, she said: “Of course”.
In KUALA LUMPUR, Khalid dismissed speculations that he would be replaced.
He said any decision to appoint a new Mentri Besar needed a concensus from the three Pakatan Rakyat partners and the consent of the Sultan of Selangor.
Speaking on the sidelines of the launching of the book, Maps of Malaya and Borneo: Discovery, Statehood and Progress, he also denied rumours that Anwar would contest the Kajang seat to make an entry into the state assembly.
