‘Snap elections will not affect PR’s victory in Selangor’
Yiswaree P., The Rakyat Post
A possible snap election in Selangor will still see Pakatan Rakyat (PR) triumphing, but with a reduced majority, said political analyst Prof James Chin (pic).
The Monash University academician said that PR still has a chance of retaining power in the industry-rich state and, would only be doomed if PAS chooses to exit the coalition and join forces with Umno.
“DAP will also pay a heavy price because of the new highway issue, but the biggest loser will be PAS and PKR,” he told The Rakyat Post.
“Just shows how Anwar (opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim) had mismanaged the whole thing. Rafizi (PKR strategist Rafizi Ramli) must also take part of the blame as well,” he said in referring to the controversial “Kajang Move”, adding that, he believed that Rafizi was the one who engineered it (Kajang Move).
Chin, however, said that the time is now right for a new Menteri Besar for Selangor and warned that the longer it takes to replace embattled Menteri Besar Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim, PR will then be losing more votes.
Political analyst Dr Mohd Azizuddin Mohd Sanim said PKR’s top leadership should not widen the already emerging gap.
“Of course there has been a split in the PKR. There are those who support Khalid and vice versa. This clearly happened after PKR announced a new candidate to replace Khalid,” he told yesterday.
He said that the decision by PKR to expel Khalid yesterday, will also not solve the political problems in the state.
“It all depends on the decision by the Selangor Sultan,” he added.
Mohd Azizuddin also sees a possibility where Khalid might join another party to strengthen his position.
Associate Professor Dr Mohammad Agus Yusoff felt that in principle, Khalid should have just resigned when told to.
“If the party has rejected him, he should resign, but he has a constitutional right to ask the Sultan to dissolve the assembly.”
The PKR leadership council had yesterday, sacked Khalid from the party for his refusal to step down as the Menteri Besar.
PKR’s disciplinary board chairman, Datuk Dr Tan Kee Kwong, said that that Khalid had gone against the decision made by the party’s top leadership, which picked party president Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail as the new Selangor Menteri Besar.
“He had also issued media statements stating that he would not relinquish his position. This alone gives us sufficient grounds for the sacking,” said Tan.
The council also decided that Khalid had gone against the PR’s presidential council when he agreed to postpone the process and discussion on the Langat 2 water treatment plant project and did not put off the decision to increase the allowances for the State Speaker, the Menteri Besar, Exco and state assemblymen in Selangor.
He was also seen to have failed with regards to the leadership council’s decision to include the Selangor Water Restructuring Committee’s decisions at the state level, and for arbitrarily entering into an agreement with the Federal Government on the water restructuring exercise.
Further grounds for the council’s decision was based on Khalid being adamant on continuing with the Kidex project (Kinrara-Damansara Expressway).
The project is said to go against the party’s direction and manifesto introduced during the 13th General Election.
Dr Tan said that Khalid had also not furnished a satisfactory explanation on the issue of the settlement of his loan availed from Bank Islam amounting to close to RM70 million.
The statement affirmed that Khalid was sacked from PKR with immediate effect.
However, Dr Tan said that Khalid could appeal within 14 days and if the leadership committee were to give him a chance, a special committee would be formed to consider his appeal.
