No to Anwar as MB, PAS Youth insists

(MM) – Despite its national leadership’s public endorsement of Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s Kajang bid, PAS’s Youth wing stood firm today by its refusal to support the Opposition Leader should he take on the post of Selangor mentri besar.

According to wing chief Suhaizan Kaiat, the party’s youth members were disappointed that public money would be wasted for the forced by-election, which they believe risks eroding Pakatan Rakyat’s (PR) support among the public.

“PAS Youth would like to reiterate that supporting Anwar as a Kajang by-election candidate does not mean PAS Youth agrees with him to be Selangor mentri besar,” Suhaizan said in a statement here.

“The Kajang polemic does not need to force Pakatan Rakyat into discussing the issue of a new mentri besar,” the youth leader added.

This comes as PAS decided to throw its weight behind its ally PKR in its fight to retain the Kajang state seat today, in a statement by president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang.

A party meeting last night picked Dr Mohd Hatta Ramli to lead the election campaign for PAS in the by-election, the statement added.

The meeting, however, did not discuss the position of the Selangor mentri besar, the PAS leader stressed.

In a surprise announcement last week, PKR’s Lee resigned as Kajang assemblyman resigned, presumably to pave way for Anwar to contest the by-election.

Talk was that the move, dubbed by PKR as “the Kajang Move”, was to give Anwar a seat in the state assembly for the purpose of replacing Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim as Selangor mentri besar.

Anwar has admitted in a previous interview that replacing Khalid was a possibility that remains under consideration, but confirmed that there will be a shake-up at the top of the state administration in the event he secures the recently vacated state seat.

While popular with the general public, Khalid’s penchant for unilateral decision-making in administering the country’s wealthiest state is understood to be a source of dissatisfaction among PR leaders in the state.

PR currently holds 44 of the 56-seat Selangor state assembly, with PAS and DAP having 15 seats each, while PKR has 13 after Lee’s resignation.