A heavy price to pay

Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail is no more the reluctant politician as she goes on a Selangor-wide road show to explain why she deserves to replace the man whom PKR has sacked as a member.

Joceline Tan, The Star

DATUK Seri Anwar Ibrahim turns 67 today. It would have been a birthday wish come true for him if his wife had secured the Pakatan Rakyat mandate for the Mentri Besar post.

But Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail has yet to get the green light from her Pakatan partners to become the next Selangor Mentri Besar. Everyone thought they would see the light at the end of the tunnel by today but the train is still in the tunnel, looking for a way out.

However, her party has managed to sack Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim from the party, cutting him off at the knees and making it completely untenable to continue as Mentri Besar.

PAS, which has insisted on keeping Khalid will now have to go back to the drawing board because it cannot be expected to back a candidate who is now partyless.

Khalid was at home resting after a whirlwind week when news broke about that he had been expelled.

The sacking has stunned everyone . It was swift, ruthless and reminiscent of the way Anwar was sacked from Umno all those years ago. History does have a way of repeating in the worst of ways.

But the party crisis is likely to get worse before it gets better.

Is Anwar all stressed out by the never-ending crisis? Those who have met him in recent days said he is still as cool and suave as ever even with his court case around the corner. He likes to do the drama thing, like arching his eyebrows and raising his voice to dominate a conversation or get his way but, all in all, his mien seems to be one of been there, seen it, done it.

It is quite evident by now that Anwar is bent on having only his wife as the next Mentri Besar and nothing and no one is going to change his mind.

The surprising thing is that Dr Wan Azizah is also not the reluctant politician she has been made out to be. The PKR president seems eager to take up the post and her party has held a string of dinner gatherings for her to explain why she deserves to be Mentri Besar.

The first gathering in Klang was a pre-emptive strike at Khalid whose Port Klang state seat is located there. The second was in Ampang where her arch-rival and deputy president Azmin Ali’s Bukit Antarabangsa state seat is located.

The dinners have been well-attended and aimed largely at PKR’s Chinese and Indian supporters, the vote base it is banking on. Besides, the dinners are quite grand, featuring seven-course Chinese-style meals and sponsored by wealthy businessmen.

The key speakers at these events are Kajang Move architect Rafizi Ramli and Datin Paduka Dr Tan Yee Kew, a former MCA Wanita leader who is now a key supporter of Dr Wan Azizah.

Dr Wan Azizah’s pitch has been simple, perhaps too simple. She touches briefly about basic issues in Selangor like traffic and cleanliness problems, pledges to take Selangor forward and steers clear of heavy stuff like the economy, Bibles, Kidex and water crisis.

She admits that she is taking up the post because of the injustice done to her husband and that he would have been the Mentri Besar candidate had it not been for the court decision on his sodomy case.

“The best candidate is Kak Wan. She’s our president, she’s capable, she can pull our party together,” said former Kuala Langat PKR chief David Cheong who used to be aligned to Khalid.

There has been some sort of shift on the ground following the disciplinary move against Khalid. And now that he has been expelled, the tide will change even more.

Pragmatism will kick in among the rank and file as members now that Khalid has lost the political legitimacy to continue.

“It’s very simple – the top has decided, the ground has to follow,” said Klang PKR chief Yew Boon Lye.

But not everyone has come along. The circle around Azmin, who is Selangor chairman, have insisted on putting his name up alongside Dr Wan Azizah. His supporters are upset that Anwar has tried to silence Azmin’s name.

It is now out in the open that Dr Wan Azizah’s was not the only name floated during the July 21 supreme council meeting.

Supreme council member Khalid Jaafar said Azmin was well qualified for the Mentri Besar post. Khalid Jaafar and Azmin go back a long way, having been top aides of Anwar when he was deputy prime minister. He spoke of Azmin’s commitment to the party, his ability and experience and how he led PKR through one election after another.

Incoming vice-president Shamsul Iskandar also tried to speak up for Azmin, but Anwar reportedly banged the table and asked the meeting not to question his choice of Dr Wan Azizah.

When Dr Wan Azizah’s name was finally put to a vote, everyone in the room stood up to support the resolution.

Azmin’s supporters view this as the ultimate betrayal because it happened when Azmin was away in Mecca.

The perception is that Anwar had played out a long-time loyalist (Azmin) and an old friend (Khalid).

Azmin feels hurt and betrayed that all the years he had given to the party and to Anwar had come to this.

Khalid, during a gathering to perform special prayers at the Mentri Besar’s official residence on Thursday evening, had spoken of how PAS leader Datuk Nik Aziz Nik Mat had warned him about the “many hypocrites in politics” and advised him to be patient.

The Mentri Besar was known to have personally helped out Dr Wan Azizah and her children when Anwar was imprisoned. In that sense, his hurt was different from Azmin.

Khalid has also been betrayed by his own party colleagues. He was surrounded by people who, as the Chinese say, have drunk tea with both sides. For instance, a woman state executive councillor he had trusted, had brought a party leader to ask Khalid to withdraw from the deputy president contest.

But this is politics where there are no permanent friends or foes. His friends whom he had helped during hard times have stabbed him during good times.

There has also been a very angry man beneath the hurt. Khalid is a wounded tiger and that is a dangerous animal.

Khalid saw himself as elected by the rakyat and appointed by the Palace. Rightly or wrongly, he regarded himself as a lone defender against greedy politicians eyeing Selangor’s RM3bil reserves.

He was not alone in thinking that the show cause letter against him resembled trumped-up charges. Even his critics in PKR privately admit that of the six accusations against him, five were “totally out” because they concerned issues that were within his purview as a chief executive.

The sixth accusation implying corruption in a land and financial deal seemed to be built on conjecture and assumptions, a case of someone adding two plus two and getting five. Moreover, Khalid was only given three days, instead of the usual 14 days, to reply to the show-cause letter.

His supporters have called it “kangaroo court justice”.

But his political secretary Azman Abidin has urged him to appeal the decision and to go through the internal party channels.

The PKR political stalemate is more complicated than a Rubic Cube.

For instance, PAS’ highest decision-making Syura Council is standing by Khalid, the Azmin group want him to be considered, Dr Wan Azizah and Azmin will not accept each other and the Palace prefers more than one name.

A political insider said PAS is planning to formally inform the Selangor Palace of the Syura Council decision on the Mentri Besar issue. It is PAS’ way of conveying to Tuanku that they are not in favour of Dr Wan Azizah. But that may have been overtaken by events.

Meanwhile, the media is already speculating on a compromise candidate in the form of Ijok assemblyman Dr Idris Ahmad. The elderly medical doctor, who also goes back a long way with Anwar, has indicated that he is willing but no one has approached him as yet.

No one can quite predict what Khalid will do now that he is outside the party. PAS has said it will not recruit Khalid while his aides said that all the talk of him going over to Umno is pure nonsense.

Khalid is now an independent assemblyman and he is likely to seek an audience with the Sultan. The result is that a special sitting of the State Assembly will be convened so that a formal vote can be taken on Khalid.

Umno does not want to be dragged into Pakatan’s burning house and will probably abstain from voting if Pakatan moves a vote of no confidence against Khalid.

The Star’s columnist Dr Shad Saleem Faruqi has written an erudite piece of the paramount role of the Sultan in such a crisis. The Sultan holds the key to an array of options. If Pakatan cannot agree on who is to be Mentri Besar, they may have to turn to the Palace.

A number of Pakatan leaders pointed to a snap election as a way out. PKR strategist Rafizi went so far as to claim that his party was willing to lose the state in a snap election, if that is what it takes to see Khalid gone. It was quite astonishing that anyone would be prepared to have a snap election and to lose a state just to fix an individual.

But the reality is that none of the three Pakatan partners want to face the voters again so soon after the general election.

Voters were critical of the Kajang by-election and they will be even more critical of a snap state election. A snap election will come with a heavy price.