After PKR and DAP, Selangor PAS now rejects Khalid Ibrahim

By admin-s On Jun 20, 2014

(TMI) – After enjoying PAS’s support for six years, Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim’s job as Selangor menteri besar is now on shaky ground, with the Islamist party’s state chapter joining PKR and DAP in calling for his removal over his handling of major issues without consultation in the country’s wealthiest state.

Khalid’s tendency to make decisions without consulting his Pakatan Rakyat (PR) coalition has left PAS out in the cold, despite the party’s initial loyalty towards him, said several state
PAS officials.

“This was what was voiced during a meeting by the Selangor PAS communication body, that all 22 PAS leaders in Selangor agreed to support Khalid’s removal as he has brought trouble,” Selangor PAS election chief Jaafar Sulaiman told The Malaysian Insider.

He said many of the problems plaguing Selangor at present were the result of Khalid’s weak leadership and his refusal to listen to the PR component parties.

Jaafar also urged the PAS central leadership and PR to replace Khalid with a better qualified candidate accepted by the coalition.

PKR had earlier this year initiated the “Kajang move” to replace Khalid with Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim as the Selangor menteri besar.

But the move was stymied when the Court of Appeal in March overturned Anwar’s acquittal on a charge of sodomising his former aide Saiful Bukhari Azlan in 2008 and sentenced him to five years’ jail.

The court’s decision forced PKR president Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail to contest the Kajang seat instead of Anwar in the March 23 by-election. The seat had been vacated by former state assemblyman Lee Chin Cheh, who stepped down to pave the way for Anwar.

Jaafar felt that Khalid’s weaknesses were becoming more apparent in his handling of issues, such as the water concessionaires’ takeover, the seizure of the Malay and Iban Bibles from the Bible Society of Malaysia (BSM), and the Kidex Highway, opposed by Petaling Jaya residents.