MB decision after Raya
(NST) – What was expected to be the long-waited announcement for a new face of Selangor menteri besar, turned out to be merely an eight-minute long press conference to basically say that Khalid’s fate would only be decided after the Hari Raya Aidilfitri celebrations.
THERE was much excitement among members of the media when it was made known that the Pakatan leadership was to announce something important after their its presidential council meeting yesterday.
Foremost was the fate of embattled PKR’s Selangor menteri besar, Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim.
As his own party leadership had made it clear that they do not want him to continue in that post any more, expectation was high that the Pakatan bigwigs had reached their final decision.
It was however an anti-climax.
What was expected to be the long-waited announcement for a new face of Selangor menteri besar, turned out to be merely an eight-minute long press conference to basically say that Khalid’s fate would only be decided after the Hari Raya Aidilfitri celebrations.
In the opposition office in the Parliament building, re porters and cameraman fought for their spots in the small meeting room, where opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim announced a brief joint statement by PKR, Pas and DAP.
DAP was represented by its secretary-general Lim Guan Eng and his father Kit Siang who is the party adviser while Pas was represented by its deputy president Mohamad Sabu and secretary-general Datuk Mustafa Ali.
Anwar said the coalition partners had accepted PKR’s proposal to replace the Selangor Menteri Besar, and agreed that the nomination of the post would come from PKR.
“It was decided after the meeting between the Pakatan leadership that the coalition has accepted PKR’s proposal to replace the Selangor menteri besar,” he said.
Even though it was agreed that PKR had the right to replace Khalid with Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, the joint statement stressed that Pas and DAP would only decide on a stance after reaching a consensus within their own party.
“Pas and DAP leadership will meet and discuss this matter at their party levels and a final decision will be made on a later date,” Anwar said.
Anwar was however non-committal when asked what would be the next course of action should Khalid still refuse to step down even if Pakatan had reached a consensus to remove him as menteri besar.
“Don’t be presumptuous. We are discussing it amicably and it is still under the process of discussion,” he said.
When asked on the the role he would play should his wife, Dr Wan Azizah come to power in Selangor, Anwar said he will no longer hold the position of economic adviser to the state government.
“I will remain as the opposition leader in the Parliament. I do not think that I will assume any role if Wan Azizah becomes the menteri besar.
“I will no longer be the economic adviser. There are many other qualified people that could be placed in that position,” he said.
Anwar also said there were other candidates who would have been the menteri besar including incumbent PKR deputy president Azmin Ali. However, he said the consensus reached by the party leadership was to propose Dr Wan Azizah, as she is the party president.
“One of the arguments was that she can unify the party and strengthen relations with Pas and DAP,” he added.
Much to the disappointment of the journalists, there was no clear indication of whether the DAP or Pas leadership had given the nod or otherwise on the matter.
“The DAP leadership will convene a meeting on this immediately, which will be attended by all top party leaders,” said Guan Eng.
“When we come back (after Hari Raya), our decision will be presented and discussed at the next Pakatan leadership meeting,” he added.
Mohamad Sabu, on the other hand, hardly had anything to say except, “We will be discussing it at the party leadership meeting after Hari Raya.”
This was despite Pas Selangor commissioner Iskandar Abdul Samad’s statement on Tuesday that Selangor Pas had never agreed to the proposal of removing Khalid and re placing him with Dr Wan Azizah.
On Monday night, Anwar announced the candidacy of Dr Wan Azizah to replace Khalid as the menteri besar despite the fact that Khalid had only served the first year of his second term.
Refusing to back down, Khalid had told his party lead ership in a statement on Tuesday that any attempt to remove him from his post must be made in accordance to the state constitution.
