Snap polls on the cards?

Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim’s reluctance to vacate the Selangor Mentri Besar seat may force Pakatan Rakyat in Selangor to press for a snap state election.

Joceline Tan, The Star

IT was a simple photograph of two politicians seated across each other on the second day of Hari Raya. But it was a picture that was worth a thousand words.

Selangor Mentri Besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim was sending a strong message to the clique in PKR who want to topple him when he tweeted the picture of him and PAS spiritual leader Datuk Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat in the latter’s home on the outskirts of Kota Baru.

There seemed to be some sort of political tango going on because a day later, the same picture appeared in Nik Aziz’s official Facebook page which, by the way, has 1.7mil followers and carries the tagline “Pertahankan Islam demi anak cucu” (safeguard Islam for the future generation).

Khalid and his wife Puan Sri Salbiah Tunut had flown to Kota Baru to visit the former Kelantan Mentri Besar. It was a private visit, the media was not informed and Khalid’s own press secretary only learnt about it from a senior staff the night before the visit.

He also called on the current Mentri Besar Datuk Mohamed Yakob at the latter’s official residence.

Khalid had made the special trip to Kelantan to show his appreciation for the political endorsement from Nik Aziz and also PAS president Datuk Seri Hadi Awang.

It was a huge moral victory for Khalid when the two top ulama openly voiced support for him to continue as Mentri Besar. The icing to the cake was that they praised him as a clean leader with no scandals to his name.

Khalid later told an aide it was a purely social visit, that he wanted to meet up with Nik Aziz who had been hospitalised during the fasting month.

But very few things in politics are purely social, particularly, when it comes to Selangor politics.

The political crisis over the Mentri Besar post has been like a typhoon blowing non-stop through Pakatan Rakyat in Selangor. It was the No 1 topic of conversation at many Hari Raya gatherings.

The most commonly asked question has been: Why do they want to remove Khalid?

The average person in Selangor cannot understand why PKR is doing this to Khalid. They are asking what it is that Khalid has done wrong.

Ordinary people have approached him at functions to voice their sympathy and encouragement. One survey after another has shown that he is still Selangorians’ choice for Mentri Besar.

A recent survey by Astro Awani indicated that 62% of those polled favoured Khalid and only 9% picked Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail.

Dr Wan Azizah’s public statements since her takeover attempt have been sparse and innocuous. She said she is for team work, it was her duty to take over as Mentri Besar and she regarded it as a test by Allah. It was hardly the sort of stuff to convince onlookers that she would do a better job than Khalid.

It is quite likely that the Selangor public do not quite know what to make of this lady who has an image as a dutiful wife and mother. Yet, she had been a successful career woman before her marriage, working as an ophthalmologist in a government hospital.

Some have said that “if Khir Toyo can become MB, why not Kak Wan?”

They do have a point there. Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Khir Toyo came from nowhere to become Mentri Besar in 1999. The dentist was more familiar with the insides of people’s mouth than managing a complex state like Selangor. He got the job although he was an absolute greenhorn. Sadly though, that may also explain why he did not do a good job.

Three months ago, doomsayers were saying that Pakatan would be torn in two by the PAS push for hudud law and that the break-up would happen when the hudud-related Bills are tabled in Parliament.

Now, analysts are predicting that the rupture will be caused by the fallout over the Mentri Besar issue.

The discord between the Pakatan parties over who should be Mentri Besar has become very open, with Pakatan leaders in Selangor taking pot shots at each other.

One of those who got caught in the crossfire was Dr Mohd Zuhdi Marzuki, a PAS central committee member who came under attack after remarks made in a PAS whatsapp group were leaked and taken out of context.

He had apparently referred to a scenario of PAS pulling out from Pakatan. He also criticised Anwar for his dictatorial style and said that he should retire from politics.

The scholarly Dr Zuhdi is highly regarded among the ulama group in PAS who are grooming him for a bigger role in the future and the group did not appreciate the way their man was attacked.

The sparks over the Dr Zuhdi incident is a sign of the distrust between DAP and PAS since the start of the hudud law issue. The PAS insistence on supporting Khalid as Mentri Besar merely worsened the situation.

There have also been attacks against Khalid with some demanding that PKR takes disciplinary action against him. But Khalid commands his share of support in the party. In fact, he may even have more support than Dr Wan Azizah. He came in a credible second after Azmin Ali in the deputy president contest whereas the third candidate Datuk Saifuddin Nasution, who is Dr Wan Azizah’s ally, lost badly.

The response in PKR towards Dr Wan Azizah’s candidature has been lukewarm. People in the party seem unsure how to react and it was only a few days ago that several PKR assemblymen and division leaders finally expressed support for her.

There has been utter silence on the part of her deputy Azmin. By right, Azmin should have a big say in all this. He is the Selangor chairman, he has retained the deputy presidency for a second term and his men and women now dominate the party, holding posts from the vice-presidency down to the Youth and Women’s wings and also the supreme council.

But Azmin has not said a word since returning from Mecca last Sunday. He apparently spent Hari Raya at his mother’s home where he reconciled with his two elder sisters whom he had not spoken to for years because of political differences.

His mother and sisters remain critical of Anwar but the fact that they are back together is a sign that Azmin is coming around to the fact that his family was right all along.

It is no secret that many in PKR are uncomfortable over the way Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim pushed for his wife to get the post.

If Dr Wan Azizah gets the job, it means that the powerful Anwar family will hold a total of eight key posts:

> Anwar – ketua umum, Permatang Pauh MP, opposition leader

> Dr Wan Azizah – PKR president, Mentri Besar, Kajang assemblywoman

> Nurul Izzah – PKR vice-president and Lembah Pantai MP

Those who follow India’s politics have found parallels in the politics of Bihar state where the Chief Minister, who had to resign because of a criminal case, got his party to install his wife as the new Chief Minister.

The wife knew little about running a state and became known as the “surrogate Chief Minister” while the husband was known as the “de facto Chief Minister”. The Indian media dubbed it one of the most “awkward decisions in the entire Indian political history”.

Well, if India can do it, so can we.

Besides, as the Pakatan people love to say, “anything is possible in Bolehland”, an expression they had used to jibe at Barisan Nasional. But it looks like Pakatan has also arrived in Bolehland.

The signs are that Khalid is not going to resign without a fight. His political secretary Azman Abidin has been kept running back and forth trying to find a solution for his boss.

Anwar and Dr Wan Azizah have asked to meet up with Khalid but he has snubbed them.

Yet, he went all the way to Kota Baru to call on the former and current Mentri Besar of Kelantan. It is a sign of how angry and betrayed he is with the treatment by the husband-and-wife pair.

However, Dr Wan Azizah received a major boost on Friday when the top DAP leadership confirmed that she has the party’s support for the top post. The DAP support plus the endorsement of her own party has tipped the scales in her favour.

The Mentri Besar post belongs to PKR and, said Azman, the person needs the mandate from PKR.

Khalid is fortunate to get the support of PAS, including that of its two leading ulama leaders but without the support of his own party he will lack clout and credibility and will be seen as a lame duck Mentri Besar.

Dr Wan Azizah also needs PAS to come along with her, otherwise she will be also be a lame duck of sorts, always having to look over her shoulder before she does anything.

There will be more negotiations as well as plotting and scheming from now until Aug 10, the day when the parties involved are supposed to reach a final decision.

But if they still cannot reach a decision by then, Selangorians had better be ready for a snap state election.