Complicated path for Pakatan if Khalid clings on, analysts say

(MM) – A “Kajang Move” predicated on the voluntary exit of Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim will land in uncharted waters if the Selangor mentri besar refuses to go, according to political analysts.

An uncooperative Khalid — a looming possibility after recent remarks — will require PKR to seek its Pakatan Rakyat (PR) allies’ support for the public spectacle that is a motion of no-confidence against the MB in the Selangor state assembly.

Professor Jayum Jawan from Universiti Putra Malaysia noted while DAP will acquiesce, PAS would require “strong convincing” to go along with the motion in the 56-seat assembly over which PR holds a two-thirds majority.

“PAS needs to be persuaded because DAP will want somebody from PKR, and not from PAS,” Jayum told The Malay Mail Online yesterday.

“He (Khalid) became MB because he has the confidence of the PR leadership at that time. When the leadership wants a new MB, that is the leadership’s prerogative,” added the political analyst.

In an interview with The Malay Mail Online last week, Khalid said he has not finalised any agreement or reached any consensus to resign from office to make way for Opposition Leader and PKR de facto chief Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.

The former corporate leader also dropped further hints by noting that removing him as mentri besar required the consent of not just PKR, but also PAS and the DAP.

But while forcing a motion of no-confidence would deliver a blow to PR’s image, Dr Arnold Puyok from Universiti Malaysia Sarawak said an obstinate Khalid was unlikely to do any more damage than has already been inflicted on PR by the open secret that is his rivalry with deputy president Azmin Ali

Jayum also said Khalid will be the bigger loser if matters reached that level.

“PR’s and PKR’s image cannot be damaged by the ungentleman [sic] behaviour of Khalid. Khalid will look bad for not toeing the party line,” he said.

Datuk Dr Shamsul Amri Baharuddin from Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia said, however, that the issue was unlikely to reach such a critical state, and that Khalid will yield when it is asked of him.

While Anwar and PKR have been coy about their plans, the party’s de facto chief has conceded that replacing Khalid as Selangor MB is an option “on the table” if the former deputy prime minister wins the Kajang state seat in a by-election next month.

Among the reasons cited for the drastic move was the purported weaknesses in the Khalid administration’s handling of social and economic problems in the country’s most developed state.

But Selangor PAS has said it will name state party commissioner Iskandar Abdul Samad as a candidate should Khalid be made to vacate his post.

PAS and the DAP have 15 seats each, while PKR has 13 after Kajang assemblyman Lee Chin Cheh resigned suddenly last month without offering an explanation.

Lee’s resignation as Kajang assemblyman has triggered a by-election that Anwar will contest.

The unforced resignation is fuelling rumours that Anwar plans to join the state assembly for the purpose of removing Khalid from office.

The by-election will be held on March 23 and nominations are scheduled for March 11.

PKR’s Lee won the Kajang seat with a 6,824-vote majority in the elections held last May.

The Kajang constituency is 48 per cent Malay, 41 per cent Chinese and 10 per cent Indian.