PKR insists Pakatan’s decision that Khalid must go as Selangor MB
(The Malaysian Insider) – PKR will stick to Pakatan Rakyat’s (PR) decision that Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim must step aside as Selangor Menteri Besar and Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail is the top choice for the post, its secretary-general Datuk Saifuddin Nasution Ismail said today.
PKR’s insistence on following the PR leadership council decision came after PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang publicly backed Khalid to keep the top job in the country’s wealthiest state.
Saifuddin said all three parties in the coalition respected the decision by its leadership council earlier this week.
“The PR leadership council, which brought the mandate from their respective parties, had decided that day to give their commitment on principle that the post would be from PKR,” he said in a statement today.
“Therefore, PKR will hold on to the official decision made at the leadership council meeting in the issue of changing the Selangor MB.
“This method and principle has been used all this while in determining the state chief for other PR-led states like Penang, Kedah and Kelantan.”
The PR council meeting on Wednesday was attended by six members from the PAS central leadership, namely its deputy president Mohamad Sabu, secretary-general Datuk Mustafa Ali, vice-presidents Datuk Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man and Datuk Husam Musa, youth chief Suhaizan Kayat and central committee member Dr Hatta Ramli.
Criticising Hadi’s objection to the decision to replace Khalid with Dr Wan Azizah, Saifuddin said PKR had accorded the same respect to PAS when deciding on the Kedah menteri besar’s position, although there were requests within the coalition for PKR to take up the post.
“I believe the spirit of ‘ukhuwwah’ and the mutual respect in the principles of candidacy will continue to strengthen PR. It is a cornerstone of PR’s understanding so the spirit of respecting these principles have to be upheld to protect Pakatan Rakyat.
“As such, I believe that the PAS leadership will go through an internal process and take into account the opinions of all its leaders and the commitment it has pledged in the PR leadership council meeting, when the party meets on August 10, as was informed to the council.”
