All eyes on palace today
(NST) – Distrust was deeply set in Pakatan, leaving questions over the future of Pas in the set-up.
THE country’s attention will be firmly trained on Istana Bukit Kayangan in Shah Alam today, as embattled Selangor Menteri Besar Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim gets an audience with Selangor Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah.
The outcome of the state’s leadership crisis, which has dragged on for weeks, hinges on this meeting, as Khalid, who has been sacked by PKR, will advise the sultan on the next course of action.
A possible scenario is that the ruler would dissolve the state legislative assembly to pave the way for a fresh state election.
The sultan could also decree that Khalid step down and grant the opposition’s wish to have PKR president Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail become the state’s new chief executive.
Going by reports that the palace did not agree to Dr Wan Azizah’s candidacy, Sultan Sharafuddin may insist that other candidates be nominated.
However, PKR has insisted that it wants to nominate only the wife of Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim as the new menteri besar.
An impasse may lead to a protracted affair in Selangor, potentially leaving Khalid to continue to helm the state with the four Pas state assemblymen he had appointed as executive councillors.
The Pakatan alliance will be further tested in such a situation, and Pas thumbing its nose at its two partners, PKR and DAP, yesterday, by saying 13 of the party’s 15 state representatives would not sign the statutory declaration (SD) in support of Dr Wan Azizah’s nomination, aggravates the situation.
Observers have pointed out that distrust was deeply set in Pakatan, leaving questions over the future of Pas in the set-up.
Pas secretary-general Datuk Mustafa Ali yesterday demonstrated, yet again, the party’s unflinching stance against what the opposition alliance had claimed all along to be a consensus in choosing Dr Wan Azizah as menteri besar-elect.
During a press conference at the Pas headquarters here, Mustafa said the matter had been discussed in the party’s two-hour central committee meeting yesterday.
“If you ask me (whether they will sign it), my answer is no,” he said, adding that the decision was a “non-issue”.
How this will pan out is anybody’s guess, as Dr Wan Azizah had, on Aug 15, claimed to have the majority support in the assembly, by garnering the support of 30 Pakatan assemblymen, including two from Pas. They had purportedly signed the SD.
The two Pas assemblymen are Saari Sungib (Hulu Kelang) and Hasnul Baharuddin (Morib). They broke ranks from their party colleagues and went against the earlier stand by Pas’ highest decision-making body, the Syura Council, that the party would not accept Dr Wan Azizah’s nomination.
Mustafa said there had not yet been a decision on the action to be taken against Saari and Hasnul for snubbing the Syura Council.
“We are still waiting for a more comprehensive report from (our members) in Selangor.”
He said Pas would abide by the central committee meeting to leave it to the discretion and wisdom of the sultan of Selangor to decide on the menteri besar issue.
“We are making an open statement. We are not saying anything specific. When we say that we will leave it to the sultan, it means the sultan can choose.”
