We are prepared to lose Selangor in snap polls, says PKR’s Rafizi
Anisah Shukry, The Malaysian Insider
PKR is willing to lose the Selangor state government in a snap election, if that is what it takes to remove Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim as the menteri besar, said the party’s strategy director Rafizi Ramli.
“If we have to do snap polls to resolve (the Selangor menteri besar tussle) and we lose a state, so be it. I’m prepared, we are prepared, PKR is prepared. I’m sure DAP is being prepared, while PAS has to decide,” the Pandan MP told reporters last night.
“I think defending a principle is worth losing a government over… People come and go, we come and go. But the trust the rakyat have towards Pakatan Rakyat, we can’t break that.”
Rafizi, the architect of the “Kajang Move” which had sought to replace Khalid with Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, said it was a matter of integrity to remove Khalid given his out-of-court settlement with Bank Islam over a RM70 million debt.
A snap election is possible in Selangor if Khalid loses a no-confidence vote in the state legislative assembly.
Rafizi admitted that snap polls would put Pakatan Rakyat in a difficult position and there was a huge risk of losing the state government.
Saying governments were temporary, Rafizi said what mattered most was that they did not betray the trust of the people who voted them in 2008 and 2013.
“If you break that, it will take generations to convince them they can trust us. And that’s why the moment there is, in our opinion, enough evidence that his (Khalid’s) integrity is suspect, we have no choice (but to remove him).”
Rafizi was speaking to reporters after participating in a forum on the Selangor crisis at the Kuala Lumpur Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall last night.
