Brakes on Anwar’s bid to make wife Selangor MB
(The Star) – PKR’s bid to make party president Datuk Seri Wan Azizah Wan Ismail the next Selangor Mentri Besar met with a roadblock when the Pakatan Rakyat leadership council failed to come to a decision on the matter.
DAP and PAS, in what appears to be a delay tactic, said that they would have to take the matter back to their respective party leaderships for further discussion before an announcement was made.
In a press conference at the Opposition leader office in Parliament, PKR de-facto leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said Pakatan Rakyat Leadership Council (MPP) had been informed of PKR’s proposal to replace Selangor Mentri Besar Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim with Wan Azizah.
“DAP and PAS will bring the issue to their respective leaderships and will deliver a decision on the matter soon,” said Anwar, who added both DAP and PAS had also agreed in principle that PKR would continue to helm the state leadership.
When asked what if Khalid refused to step down, Anwar said that it was still under discussion.
“Don’t be presumptuous. We are discussing it amicably and it is still in the process of discussion,” he said, stressing that Khalid was still a PKR deputy-president candidate.
Asked if Khalid’s ouster was an abuse of the democratic process as speculated by some quarters, Anwar said there was precedence to the change of Mentri Besar.
“Why didn’t you raise this in Perak and in Terengganu recently? It was accepted there and no question were raised by the media on the extreme change. Why is it when it comes to Selangor and Pakatan Rakyat, the issue become contentious?” he said.
When asked what his role in the Selangor state government would be if his wife assumed leadership, Anwar said that he would hold no state position.
He added that he would relinquish his post as Selangor economic advisor.
When asked why Azmin was overlooked at Mentri Besar candidate, Anwar said that although he was very qualified, there were also others qualified for the post and the party consensus was for Wan Azizah to replace Khalid.
PAS deputy president Mat Sabu, who was present at the press conference, said that the party would discuss the proposal and it would make an announcement after Hari Raya.
On Monday, PKR officially backed party president Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail for the Selangor Mentri Besar post.
Khalid, however, said he would remain in his current position unless all proper steps to ensure his replacement as was written in the Selangor constitution were fulfilled.
