PAS to submit more than one name for Selangor MB
Diyana Ibrahim, The Malaysian Insider
PAS is standing by its decision to submit more than one name for the Selangor menteri besar position, in defiance of the Pakatan Rakyat presidential council and its decision to nominate only Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail for the post.
PAS secretary-general Datuk Mustafa Ali said the party was bound to its central committee’s decision on August 17 to nominate two candidates.
“PAS’s stance to submit more than one name is a fact known to the public,” he told The Malaysian Insider today.
He added that the decision to nominate another candidate alongside the PKR president, Dr Wan Azizah, was a well-known fact.
His statement indirectly goes against de facto PKR leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s request for the Islamist party to stand by PKR and DAP’s decision last night to submit only one name to the sultan.
The opposition leader said PAS should abide by the PP leadership council’s decision to nominate only the PKR party chief.
“In the spirit of Pakatan, this is a Keadilan seat and decision.
“We need to respect that in the spirit of the coalition, and PAS did participate in the decision-making process in the Pakatan presidential council meeting on August 17,” he told reporters on the sidelines of his defamation suit against Foreign Affairs Minister Anifah Aman at the Kuala Lumpur court complex earlier today.
But Mustafa told The Malaysian Insider the decision to stick with one name was up to each party.
He said every party, whether PAS, PKR or DAP, had the right to submit the name of any assemblyman for the top post in the state, as the sultan of Selangor had decreed each party leader in PR to send in more than two names to His Royal Highness.
“That is their (PKR’s) right to submit any name, it is also DAP’s right to nominate anyone, because each party has received separate letters.
“So it is each party’s right to submit (the names) to the palace.”
He added that PAS had yet to choose the candidates as they had not received the official letter from the palace.
“We have not received the letter from the palace yet, maybe tomorrow we will get it, and we cannot reveal anything yet until we receive it. We must see what are the requirements of a menteri besar candidate before we decide.”
