Ambiga to Pakatan: Tell us the whole truth
People need to know if they are voting for the future menteri besar of Selangor, says Ambiga
Anisah Shukry, FMT
Pakatan Rakyat must stop its “wishy-washy” stance and confirm with Malaysians whether or not it intends to replace Selangor Menteri Besar Khalid Ibrahim with PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim, former Bersih co-chairperson S Ambiga said.
She said it didn’t make sense that Pakatan had orchestrated the entire Kajang by-election and was fielding Anwar only for him to become a state assemblyman.
“To me, you don’t ask the Opposition Leader to take such a risk just to be a state assemblyman. There has to be more clarity. It just doesn’t compute,” Ambiga said at a forum on the Kajang Move here last night.
“Make your intentions clear. (You keep saying) ‘Maybe menteri besar’, ’if he were menteri besar’… people need to know if they are voting for the future menteri besar of Selangor,” she stressed.
Earlier in the forum, fellow panellist and Selangor DAP chief Tony Pua had said: “If Anwar is to become menteri besar, I believe he, who has been our candidate for the prime minister position, who has been endorsed by Pakatan Rakyat including DAP, will make a very good menteri besar.”
PKR strategy director Rafizi Ramli had also told the forum earlier that night that the Selangor state government needed a political maestro in the form of Anwar to fend off attacks from BN and Umno. Khalid was not sufficiently politically savvy, he had said.
In interviews with the media, Anwar himself had neither confirmed nor denied his intention to gun for the top position in the country’s richest state, but had elaborated what his course of action would be ”if” he helmed Selangor.
Pakatan’s unclear stance on the matter has fuelled speculation that former Kajang assemblyman Lee Chin Cheh resigned his position to allow Anwar to contest the vacated seat, paving way for the latter to become the menteri besar.
He said Pakatan wanted to focus on winning the Kajang by-election first. But Rafizi said last night that it was too early for Pakatan to reveal its plans on the menteri besar position.
“The moment you talk about the menteri besar issue, you complicate matters. You bring in other stakeholders,” he reasoned.
