Khalid more powerful now after exco sackings, lawyers say

By admin-s Last updated Aug 13, 2014

Khalid now has more power to exercise his will from within the state administration without being answerable to the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) leadership.

Joseph Sipalan, Malay Mail Online

Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim’s sacking of six executive councillors (exco) from PKR and DAP yesterday was a shrewd manoeuvre by the embattled leader to one-up his opponents and tighten his grip on the Selangor mentri besar post, lawyers said.

Constitutional law experts following developments in the Selangor crisis noted that with his detractors removed from government, Khalid now has more power to exercise his will from within the state administration without being answerable to the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) leadership.

Further complicating matters for PKR and DAP is the fact that Khalid had obtained the Selangor Sultan’s consent for the sacking, making his move legal and likely impossible to be challenged in any court of law, the observers said.

Shariah and constitutional lawyer Nizam Bashir explained that Article 53(7) of the Selangor Constitution stipulates that a member of the state executive council holds office at the pleasure of the state ruler.

This means that Khalid had acted within his legal means if he had truly obtained the Sultan’s go-ahead to fire the six PKR and DAP exco members, the lawyer said.

“Let’s look at it this way — there is someone at the helm who doesn’t seem to be getting the cooperation of members who are supposed to be subordinate to him.

“From a management perspective, this is the sensible thing to do,” Nizam told Malay Mail Online when contacted.

“From the legal perspective, he followed the law down to a T. So on both counts, you can’t find fault with him,” he added, referring to Khalid.