Hot mess in Selangor

Aspiring Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail is riding a speeding train that is headed for a collision with the Selangor Palace. 

Joceline Tan, The Star

DATUK Seri Anwar Ibrahim has a reputation as a savvy and seasoned politician and he is a political animal with few peers.

The former Deputy Prime Minister turned opposition leader has the unique experience of having been in and outside of power. He is supposed to understand the intricacies of Malaysian politics and to have his finger on the pulse.

If that is so, how could the Selangor Mentri Besar issue have gone so seriously wrong?

A full-blown constitutional crisis is raging in Selangor. It is far more serious than the 2008 crisis when the Terengganu Sultan refused to accept then Prime Minister Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s choice for Mentri Besar.

PKR and DAP are on a train that is speeding towards a head-on collision with the Palace. The Selangor saga has pitched Pakatan Rakyat against the Selangor Palace in a way that has made many people inside and outside the state very uncomfortable.

The way has been cleared for a new Mentri Besar. Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim has tendered his resignation, which will take effect once his successor is named.

Sources said the Palace is all prepared for the swearing-in ceremony. The document for the oath is ready, waiting for the new Mentri Besar’s name to be inked. The invitations have been printed with just the date and guest names to be filled in.

But Pakatan has been unable to get its act together. It is still deeply divided on who should be the next Mentri Besar.

PKR is determined to make party president Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail the Mentri Besar, regardless of whether PAS likes it or not.

Worse, in the haste to push Dr Wan Azizah up, PKR slandered an innocent man, accusing outgoing Mentri Besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim of corruption and mismanagement in order to push him out.

“It is beyond me why, at this stage, Anwar is still insisting on only Wan Azizah and no one else. By now, even a three-year-old would know the Palace does not want her,” said a Penang lawyer.

Anwar understands the Palace dynamics very well. But he has no intention of going by the conventions. He wants to change the rules of the game, to push the envelope to get his wife in.

Anwar has argued that the party has to present Dr Wan Azizah’s name given that she has the declared support of 30 of the 44 Pakatan assemblymen. If the Palace rejects her, they will immediately submit another name, presumably that of deputy president Azmin Ali.

But, as some have noted, there have been no less than four subtle “rejections” from the Palace to Dr Wan Azizah. The Palace language, or “Bahasa Istana” as they call it, is very subtle and one has to read between the lines.

The Palace has not granted Dr Wan Azizah an audience despite three requests from her. The first time was when her husband wrote to the Sultan asking for an audience for his wife. Following that, Dr Wan Azizah wrote in asking for an ­audience.

The third instance was a letter from Dr Wan Azizah seeking an audience to present the statutory declarations of the assemblymen supporting her. She has yet to be granted an audience till now.

The fourth “rejection” came on Wednesday when a letter from the Palace was hand delivered to the PKR headquarters. It was a brief two-paragraph letter, the gist of which was to inform the PKR president that she had not adhered to the Sultan’s request to present more than two names for his consideration.

Some media outlets have painted it as a reprimand but it was more of a businesslike reminder.

The Palace letter would have passed without fanfare had it not been for PKR secretary-general Datuk Saifuddin Nasution’s attempt to spin the reminder to mean that the Palace was still open to Dr Wan Azizah and had not rejected her.

Saifuddin, who has emerged as a powerful figure behind Anwar, issued a press statement to that effect but retracted it barely half an hour later for reasons of his own.

Some called it a comedy of errors, others said the fiasco showed poor judgement on the part of Anwar’s advisors.

Then there was The Star’s exclusive report last week quoting Palace sources as saying that the Palace does not want a remote-controlled Mentri Besar.

The report did not mention Dr Wan Azizah but it was crystal clear that the Palace is concerned that she would be a proxy of her husband. Her role as PKR president has not escaped the observation of Palace officials. They have seen how she has been largely passive while Anwar and the small circle around him run the show and call the shots.

Her electoral record has revolved around Anwar’s politics. It has been about what her husband wants rather than what the rakyat expects.

Anwar’s advisers, led by Kajang Move architect Rafizi Ramli and Saifuddin, seem out to ­challenge the Palace insistence to be presented with more than two names.

Their argument is that it is PKR’s right to choose who they want as the next Mentri Besar. Presenting a few names to the Palace would mean surrendering the decision to the Sultan.

The Sultan enjoys “absolute discretionary powers” under the state constitution but PKR leaders insist that the discretionary powers must respect the candidate who has the majority support.

But can Anwar and his advisers accept a Palace rejection? Will Anwar take it like a gentleman or will he take things to another level?

Some believe that given PKR’s history of street politics, the party will take to the streets if it does not get its way.

But a PKR insider dismissed the notion of street demonstrations if their president is rejected. However, the party may turn to the courts to dispute the Palace decision. Their aim is to define the powers of the Palace.

“Politics should be more defined because we are a democracy,” said the insider.

It is understood that there will be no outright rejection from the Palace. That is not the way the Palace does things.

The Sultan, said a Palace official, will give his consent to a name without rejecting the other names.

Meanwhile, the air has been thick with all kinds of rumours. One was that PAS had named Khalid as one of its Mentri Besar candidates. The outgoing Mentri Besar was said to be embarrassed because he has no intention of backtracking on his resignation. The rumour turned out to a rumour.

Another rumour claimed that a Malay businessman had arranged a secret meeting between PAS president Datuk Seri Hadi Awang and his Umno counterpart Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak with the aim of forming a unity government in Selangor. Again it was untrue because Umno is not interested in teaming up with PAS or vice versa.

Yet another rumour claimed that Hadi was granted an audience with the Sultan at 4pm on Wednesday, during which he was given the undertaking that the Palace would accept a PAS Mentri Besar. It was more rubbish because the Sultan was not even in the Palace at that time and day.

However, the powerful PAS ulama who sit on the party’s Syura Council are apparently so fed up with the never-ending Mentri Besar drama that they have proceeded to submit a list to the Palace that comprised entirely PAS names. Heading the PAS list was Iskandar Samad, the Selangor PAS commissioner and state executive councillor, who might end up as the next Mentri Besar.

The whole Mentri Besar affair has become quite insane. It is one hot mess in Selangor.

PKR, with the backing of a powerful and cohesive DAP, is engaged in a battle of wills with the Palace while PAS is going off on its own tangent.

For instance, Palace sources said the PKR letter nominating Dr Wan Azizah was dropped into the Palace letter box on Monday. Apparently, no one was around to officially receive the letter because it was Merdeka day. The other strange thing was that the letter was not in an envelope but placed face-up in a plastic folder.

The security guard who brought the letter to the Palace office was given a shelling by the Sultan’s private secretary who thought the guard had opened the letter. The secretary was utterly shocked when he learnt that the letter had been delivered in such a casual and indifferent manner.

Some have wondered why DAP has allowed itself to be sucked into the politics of Istana Segambut, as the powerful Anwar family is known. DAP has been an enthusiastic partner in the battle with the Palace for a very good reason. DAP cannot take on the Palace on its own but it can back Anwar and PKR to tackle the Palace and push the boundaries.

It has everything to gain and little to lose. DAP is tired of being the powerful concubine – powerful only behind the throne and in the bedroom but unable to sit on the throne.

The day will soon come when DAP will put up capable Malays for election and present them as Mentri Besar candidates in states like Selangor, Perak and Johor. Changing the Palace rules at this stage will benefit their agenda in the years ahead.

The crisis in Selangor began with the Kajang Move in March. The tensions built up during the contentious PKR election and further intensified when Khalid lost in the deputy president contest.

It is now full-blown, red lights flashing and sirens screaming.

Pakatan leaders have been comforted with feedback from their think tanks that they will retain Selangor if there is a snap election.

But few see them tasting the victory they attained in 2013. They have let down those who gave them such a tremendous mandate. And who is going to believe it when they next say they are on the way to Putrajaya or that they can do a better job than Barisan Nasional?

The Kajang Move is taking PKR and the entire Pakatan coalition to the brink. Can it pull back from the brink or will Dr Wan Azizah become Mentri Besar amid a broken coalition?