Pas’ toeing Pakatan’s line may not end crisis

(NST) – After making their Pakatan allies sat on their edge of the seat worrying that Pas would support the one-man show state government led by Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim, PKR and DAP this morning can heave a sigh of relief.

Pas has finally announced that they have decided to nominate Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail and Azmin Ali to replace Khalid as Menteri Besar.

Although the decision seemed like a u-turn to many when several top Pas leaders in the beginning seemed adamant that they did not want Dr Wan Azizah as Menteri Besar and even hinted at a possibility of breaking away from Pakatan, those closely following the crisis would have predicted this outcome.

Pas vice president Salahuddin Ayub yesterday hinted that the decision that would be reached today would be favourable and bring good news to Pas and Pakatan Rakyat.

The question is, how would he know that the outcome for a yet to be conducted meeting discussing a major crisis which had threatened to break Pakatan would bring good news?

Reading between the lines, it can be safely concluded that Pas has already made its decision and was only dragging their feet to put their allies on edge because that was the only thing they could do to ‘save face’ as they have no real power in Pakatan.

The other option is a pill too bitter to swallow.

The fact is despite being the oldest party among the three, Pas has become a junior partner in Pakatan outside Kelantan and have to obey and follow the decisions made by DAP and PKR leaders.

Growing a backbone and supporting Khalid would mean that Pas has to breakaway from Pakatan and this would send them back to the 90s where they struggled to gain foothold outside Kelantan and Terengganu.

For a source close to Khalid, the decision was not entirely surprising.

According to the source, Pas only made the decision to support Dr Wan Azizah and Azmin maintain their fragile ties with PKR and DAP.

Most importantly, they made the decision because they believe that the Sultan of Selangor would not accept neither Dr Wan Azizah nor Azmin as Khalid’s replacement.

It is understood that Pas president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang, who earlier endorsed Khalid to stay as Menteri Besar had met the Sultan prior to his sacking as PKR member.

The details of the meeting was unclear but according to sources, the Sultan allegedly did not want any other candidate from PKR to replace Khalid as they could be seat warmers and puppets for Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.

Azizah had gone on record saying that she did not mind being a puppet while Azmin is not known to be a team player and has often allegedly interfered in state administration matters.

“This did not seat well with the palace and PKR would be sent back to their meeting rooms to find other candidates to be nominated.

“Unless DAP and PKR are open to the possibility of giving away the coveted post to a candidate from Pas, there will most definitely be a deadlock.

“If this happens, a state election is inevitable,” said the source.