Khalid’s PKR sacking reminiscent of Anwar’s Umno expulsion
The Malaysian Insider
Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim’s sacking as a PKR member today slightly resembles party de facto leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s expulsion from Umno nearly 16 years ago.
But Khalid remains Selangor Menteri Besar despite being fired from PKR for defying party orders to make way for party president Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail.
Anwar was fired as deputy prime minister from the Mahathir government on September 2, 1998 after a fall-out and accusations of abusing power plus a sodomy charge.
A day later, the Umno supreme council met and sacked Anwar from the party. The sacking led to 17 days of Reformasi protests in a cross-country campaign led by Anwar himself.
Anwar was later arrested on September 20, 1998, by a crack police commando squad and charged for abuse of power and sodomy. He was also beaten while briefly detained under the Internal Security Act (ISA), which allows for detention without trial.
The then federal police chief, Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Abdul Rahim Noor, was later convicted of assaulting Anwar.
Anwar was convicted on both charges but was freed in 2004 by Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s successor, Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi. Constitutional rules for ex-convicts meant he could not contest in the general elections that year.
He led a coalition of three parties – PKR, DAP and PAS – in the 2008 general election which denied Barisan Nasional (BN) its customary two-thirds parliamentary super-majority and captured four states apart from PAS keeping Kelantan.
One of the states won was Selangor, the country’s most-industrialised and richest state. Ironically, Khalid was made Selangor menteri besar and his government did well enough to pick up six more seats in the 2013 general election.
Khalid’s sacking today means PKR has lost one state lawmaker in Selangor and one MP in the federal parliament. The Port Klang assemblyman and Bandar Tun Razak MP has 14 days to appeal against the expulsion.
