Selangor MB crisis: Khalid not ‘corrupt’, says Dr Zuhdi

(The Star) – PAS central committee member Dr Mohd Zuhdi Marzuki has defended embattled Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim, saying that any move to replace the Selangor Mentri Besar should be done once his mandate was up.

“The mandate has been given to Khalid. After it ends, we can appoint someone else. Even though there are things we like and don’t like, he has not been corrupt or behaved fraudulently,” said Dr Zuhdi in a Facebook post on Tuesday.

He cited Plato, saying that democracy that was not controlled by laws could lead to chaos or tyranny, adding that when the people were given the unlimited freedom to bring down their leaders, chaos would happen.

“Once we create a new culture of removing leaders through unconventional means such as coups, the culture will ‘stick’ with us. After this, when Khalid is replaced, those who are dissatisfied (with his successor) will tend to follow the same culture until the problems of the rakyat will be forgotten due to the political struggles,” said Dr Zuhdi.

He added that the political struggles in Kedah cost PAS the state in 2013 after the death of former Mentri Besar Tan Sri Azizan Abdul Razak.

“The political struggle in Kedah during the time of the late Azizan that led to PAS’ defeat in Kedah stemmed from a lack of patience and loyalty to our leaders. We have a procedure to change our leaders, and that is through a general election. If we can be patient for a moment and not cause chaos, a leader can eventually be removed,” said Dr Zuhdi.

Dr Zuhdi made news after a screenshot of a WhatsApp group chat began circulating on Monday. In it, he outlined his idea of PAS quitting Pakatan and cooperating with Umno assemblymen to form a simple majority to retain Selangor.

“The motion for PAS to leave PR received strong support from no less than 10 members. A good number of them are very close to Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim,” Dr Zuhdi claimed on Tuesday, adding that this group of members wanted the matter to be discussed before any further talk was held on the Selangor MB crisis.

The group chat followed a suggestion by another senior PAS leader that they leave Pakatan, he said.

“Details of my ‘scenario analysis’ should PAS leave PR was then leaked out,” he said, adding that some members felt it was better for PAS to be independent to allow members to be free to criticise.