Rafizi: Pakatan, not Selangor assembly, should decide on Khalid’s dismissal

(MM) -Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim’s future as Selangor mentri besar should rest in the hands of Pakatan Rakyat (PR) and not the Selangor legislative assembly, PKR’s Rafizi Ramli has said.

Rafizi reasoned that this is because PR occupies more than two-thirds of Selangor’s 56-seat assembly, and Khalid’s appointment to the coveted post was a decision made by the federal opposition pact.

“There are two ways where a change of leadership in a state can happen. One is when the MB or the PM (prime minister) has lost the confidence of the state assembly.

“When this happens, it is through a no-confidence vote in the assembly,” the PKR chief strategist told The Malay Mail Online.

The second situation, he said, is when all relevant parties involved in the appointment of the said mentri besar agrees to a “smooth transition” of power.

“In this one, the issue of ‘no-confidence’ motion is not involved,” Rafizi explained.

The Pandan MP, who was the architect of PKR’s ‘Kajang Move’, was responding to suggestions that Khalid’s removal as mentri besar should be done through a no-confidence motion in the Selangor legislative assembly.

The embattled second-term mentri besar is rumoured as likely to face the boot should Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim win the polls in Kajang this March 23.

The suburban seat was said to have been vacated specifically to replace Khalid with Anwar, following the former’s public tiff with PKR’s deputy president Azmin Ali, who is also a Selangor assemblyman.

But 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.

Former PKR politician Datuk Zaid Ibrahim flayed PKR and Anwar last week for their speculated plan to remove Khalid, and suggested that such a move should take place in the legislative assembly.

Zaid, who has now thrown his hat in the ring for the Kajang contest, reminded the opposition of the Perak crisis in 2009 and how their leaders had raised hue and cry when their then PAS mentri besar was removed through the consent of the Sultan and not by way of an assembly vote.

“Where are those high-minded principles about the sanctity of the MB’s position and the meaning of the people’s mandate, which they trumpeted so loudly during the Perak crisis?

“Obviously these issues do not matter when it comes to Anwar,” Zaid had written in a blog posting.

But Rafizi disagreed with Zaid.

“I don’t see any possibility of any similarities to Perak… the circumstances are different,” he said.

He pointed out that in Perak in 2009, PR only had a three-seat majority in the state assembly. In Selangor, however, the pact occupies more than two-thirds of the house with 44 seats to BN’s 12.

“So since we have overwhelming majority in the house, if it is agreed that Anwar will become the MB, I don’t think we will face any problem getting the confidence of the House,” he said.

Rafizi repeated that should Khalid step down, it would be through a peaceful consensus among all three PR parties and would not invoke a leadership crisis in Selangor.

“So there is no need for a no-confidence motion if a person steps down. Just like (Tun) Dr Mahathir (Mohamad) when he stepped down… he did so to retire, so don’t tell me he should have gone through Parliament for a no-confidence before doing that?” he said.