MB crisis: Anwar checkmated by palace

Shah A.D., The Malaysian Times

The political intrigue in Selangor is complicating the Mentri Besar crisis, started by little-known politician Lee Chin Cheh in late January.

Without rhyme or reason, Lee had resigned as Kajang assemblyman after serving his second term for only about eight months.

Not wanting to be queried over the matter, he left it to Selangor assembly speaker Hannah Yeoh to call the media on Jan 27 to announce the vacated seat.

And almost immediately after that, PKR advisor Anwar Ibrahim offered himself to be the party’s candidate in the by-election that was to be held soon afterwards.

It then became clear that Lee had made himself  the “sacrificial lamb”  for Anwar, whose grand design was to be elected into the Selangor legislative assembly and then take over as Mentri Besar from fellow party man Khalid Ibrahim.

This idea, however, fell flat when the Court of Appeal on March 7 overturned an earlier High Court decision to acquit Anwar on a charge of sodomising former political aide Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan at a condominium unit in Bukit Damansara six years ago.

The three-member Court of Appeal sentenced Anwar to five years’ jail but granted a stay on the sentence pending the Opposition Leader’s appeal to the Federal Court.

Anwar is now on a RM10,000 bail in one surety.

With his plan foiled by the court, Anwar persuaded his wife, Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail to be his proxy in the Kajang state by-election.

One thing led to another until it was too much for Khalid to be ordered to step down as mentri besar for Dr Wan Azizah to take his place after she won the by-election.

His defiance led to Khalid’s sacking from the PKR and, in turn, he axed six representatives from the party and the DAP in the state executive council.

He now runs the state with just four exco members from PAS.

Anwar, meanwhile, continues to sidestep the issue of his sodomy conviction but discreet discussions among his political friends and foes suggested that this remains his primary mission.

NO MOOD FOR PROTESTS

Anwar’s supporters have dropped hints that they are going to have mass demonstrations nationwide if he goes to jail.

While this would appeal to the PKR mob and some die-hard pro-Anwar fanatics in the DAP and PAS, there might not be much of an impact among other Malaysians.

Those who had been in similar angry gatherings before had seen the dire effects on their jobs, social interaction and business resulting from such protests.

It is a sombre mood currently among Malaysians, who have still not got over the pangs of hurt, sorrow and sense of loss over the tragic events involving Malaysia Airlines’ flights MH370 and MH17.

To have mass demonstrations to merely show affection to one man is surely out of sync with the state of mourning and sorrow for the MAS victims and for those in the abduction and murder cases in eastern Sabah.

Up to this juncture, the PKR continues to coerce its allies in the state assemblymen to stick only to Anwar’s choice for the post.

Two PAS assemblymen went along with the game plan despite their party’s syura and ulama councils making a stand not to desert Khalid and to reject the PKR’s nomination of Dr Wan Azizah for the post.

Selangor PAS gave the two – Hasnul Bahauddin (Morib) and Saari Sungib (Hulu Kelang) – an ultimatum to withdraw their support for Dr Wan Azizah or face disciplinary action but it was not an order the duo took seriously.

As it turned out, on Aug 17, the PAS central committee decided to go along with the two rebels and offered the party’s support for the PKR president.

U-TURN AND ROUNDABOUT

It is learned that it was PAS deputy president Mohamad Sabu who had influenced the central committee to make a U-turn and give their support to Anwar’s wife.

However, as a face-saving gesture, the committee nominated PKR deputy president Azmin Ali as the second nominee.

Then, in a stunning roundabout move, the committee met again on Aug 25 to say the 13 other PAS assemblymen in Selangor are not going to sign any statutory declaration to support Dr Wan Azizah.

Now that the matter has been brought before the Sultan of Selangor, the ruler has wisely shown he does not want to take sides.

Instead, Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah has ordered each of the party in the ruling Pakatan Rakyat alliance to give him two names for him to pick the most suitable candidate among a bigger field of nominees.

This would put the PKR and DAP in a spot as they had vehemently made their stand to only name Dr Wan Azizah as the prospective new MB.

To ignore the Sultan’s wishes for a second or third nominee would tantamount to disobeying the royal order.

On the other hand, for PAS to nominate candidates from its own fold, it would be seen as going against the Pakatan consensus to have a representative from the PKR to helm the Selangor government.

It’s like this: PAS has Kelantan and the DAP has Penang. So, PKR must head the administration in Selangor.

But it is not such a simple thing as PAS members would surely not want to lose an opportunity to head the most progressive state in the country.

Many PAS members had seen how the party had been “bullied” by the PKR and DAP in Selangor, to the extent that the party had to often compromise its Islamic agenda in favour of the more secularist stand of its two allies.

The royal command provides an opportunity for PAS to turn the tide against Anwar’s incessant demands.

A LOOMING BY-ELECTION

Furthermore, PAS is also staking a claim to the Pengkalan Kubor seat, which fell vacant on Aug 20 following the death of assemblyman Noor Zahidi Omar of the Barisan Nasional.

The Umno man had returned the seat for the Barisan for a third term at the 13th general election by beating a PKR candidate.

Events leading to the by-election in Kelantan seat would have a bearing on the political developments in Selangor, and vice-versa.

A political observer told the writer about the Selangor crisis: “This is a political issue of grave consequence for all the people of the state.

“It was started unnecessarily by Lee Chin Cheh, who won Kajang in the general polls.

“He quit at the behest of Anwar, who wanted a place in the Selangor legislature so that he could inch his way into the mentri besar’s office.

“When he was checkmated by the court because of his sodomy case, Anwar made the move to put his wife in his place.

“Now, Anwar is no more in control of the issue and it becomes clearer by the day that his wife will end up being just another government backbencher – not the mentri besar.

“Again, Anwar has been checkmated!”