2 out of 3 Kajang Move aims met with the last on the way, says PKR’s Rafizi
Eileen Ng, TMI
The Kajang Move architect, Rafizi Ramli, says PKR has achieved two out of three objectives, insisting it was not a failure although it led to eight months of political upheaval, a by-election costing RM1.6 million in taxpayers’ money and PKR ending up not getting the menteri besar that it wanted.
He said the move succeeded in removing incumbent menteri besar Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim who the party felt had integrity issues, and it put a stop to the heightening racial and religious tension in Selangor.
The third objective, he said, was to ensure a change in administration will improve the performance of the Selangor government’s policies and programmes that will bring Pakatan Rakyat (PR) closer to capturing the federal government.
“I don’t consider Kajang Move a failure. Different people say different things but I think we have achieved two out of the three objectives,” the PKR vice-president told The Malaysian Insider.
Critics have lambasted the PKR political strategy as a failure, noting that the party made a complex move to push de facto leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim to lead the state but ended up with party president Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail as the contender, only for the Selangor palace to choose Mohamed Azmin Ali to replace Khalid.
Rafizi added that the success of the third objective could only be gauged in one to two years time if newly minted Menteri Besar Azmin works well with PKR and partners PAS and DAP to carry out PR’s policies in administering Malaysia’s wealthiest state.
Rafizi stressed that the Kajang Move was never about immediate results but about improving the performance of PR and facing rival Barisan Nasional (BN).
“From the onset, we defined it over a much longer time frame. The Kajang Move was never about a momentary result, it was never about achieving something at a particular point in time.
“It was meant to be something like a shift in our performance over a longer period so that the cumulative effect of that would bring us more support in the next general election,” he said.
The Kajang Move was triggered when former Kajang assemblyman Lee Chin Cheh resigned from the urban state seat in March this year, triggering a by-election, and paving the way for Anwar to helm Selangor .
But the plan was stymied when the Court of Appeal found Anwar guilty of sodomising his former aide, which left PKR settling for Anwar’s wife as the candidate for the by-election.
Dr Wan Azizah won the Kajang by-election and was PKR and DAP’s sole choice for the MB post, a move that was resisted by conservatives leaders within ally PAS, who felt that she was not qualified.
This triggered tension within the Islamist party as well as with its partners PKR and DAP.
On September 23, the Selangor Sultan appointed PKR deputy president Azmin as the MB, ending the imbroglio that dogged the state for months.
Below are the excerpts of the interview with Rafizi:
TMI: Why did the party initially decide on Anwar knowing that his appeal was coming up and might affect his chances of standing in the Kajang by-election?
A: It was taken into account, in fact we drew the timeline. What we didn’t expect is that all the rules were turned upside down and thrown out the window. When we drew up the timeline, it was based on what could be done according to the law and normal practices.
It was impossible that given the normal court practices, for the case to be brought forward before the nomination of Kajang by-election. So it was a judgment call based on that. There was a risk but it was a risk we could manage. Of course, what happened was otherwise, BN basically threw everything out of the window.
TMI: You are the architect of the Kajang Move and this entire crisis dragged on for months. Are you taking responsibility for this mess? Were you blamed for this?
A: I am blamed by lots of people but it was a unanimous party decision to go ahead with the Kajang Move and every decision that we made in the last eight months was a unanimous party decision.
A few people including me and (party secretary-general Datuk) Saifuddin (Nasution Ismail) were officials entrusted with the implementation and execution of this so it’s only natural that people put the blame on us.
I will leave it to the party to decide and the party has its processes. If there is a motion that someone has to take responsibility, then the relevant process has to take place and I will be more than glad to obey and adhere to the party’s decision.
TMI: There are rumours that you tendered your resignation but withdrew it, after the failure of Kajang move. Is this true?
A: It was purely an Umno thing, Umno does it all the time. In fact, a reporter called me a couple of days ago and said: ‘We heard that you have committed suicide’ and I said, the fact that you are talking to me obviously means I did not commit suicide.
I am sure it’s an Umno thing; they have done it so many times to me. They put up a fake document that said secret Kajang Move and suddenly out of nowhere, there’s a supposed printscreen of news saying that I have tendered my resignation.
I did tweet and said the only things I resigned from are: 1. cleaning dishes at home, and 2. watching TV3, and I think because of that, about two hours later, there was another graphics that went up that said that I had initially tendered my resignation, but withdrew it. After a while, you get used to all these and ignore them. I knew about it because everyone was calling and asking me, and it took me ages to explain. So no, I did not resign, did not think about it nor did I commit suicide.
TMI: Selangor PKR had initially proposed Azmin for MB as early as two days after the May 5 general election but his name was rejected. Why?
A: It was a party decision. After the last general election, PKR decided to change the MB to Azmin and we had no qualms about it but DAP and PAS did not agree to it and because decisions are made on a consensus basis, we respected their decision and hence Khalid was reappointed. I do not know what were their qualms about Azmin.
TMI: When Azmin was named the MB by the sultan, there were no protests from the grassroots. Is it because they were fed up with the issue that had dragged on for months, or is it because they know Azmin is a better candidate than Dr Wan Azizah, who is seen as a reluctant politician and in the words of a palace source, a “remote control MB”?
A: I think it’s a question of solidarity with party decisions. When the party decided unnanimously that we had to transfer our nomination and instruct our assemblymen to transfer their support from Dr Wan Azizah to Azmin, our grassroots took it as a party decision that they have to follow. If we had decided otherwise, the party grassroots would have followed as well. A lot of what happened in the last eight months internally is really about solidarity and there’s not much noise because they knew solidarity was important, and it was important to present a united front. Hence, we decided to compromise regarding Azmin’s nomination in order not to prolong the problem and everyone toed the line.
TMI: The Selangor Sultan, in a strongly worded statement, blamed Pakatan, specifically PKR and DAP, for starting the MB impasse with the Kajang Move. What are your comments on this?
A: It’s Tuanku’s right and opinion and I believe everyone else have their opinions. Our responsibility to the public is to ensure a number of things – we elected on the basis that we should be fully transparent and our administration should be whiter than white. We promised the public we will be fair to everyone and safeguard everyone’s rights and that is something we take seriously, so regardless of what whoever thinks or what is their entitled opinion, we have a duty to the electorate that we must try our best to uphold those promises.
If we think there is a need to make changes and if we feel it’s going to be more beneficial to the public in the long term, I think it’s our duty to do it and I think it is in that spirit that we had to go through the last eight months.
For us, the most important thing is to safeguard the obligation and duty to the public and in that sense, Kajang Move was necessary because we already knew by then that we didn’t get satisfactory answers in some of the deals, and we already knew some of the directions of the state administration certainly did not look like Pakatan direction.
Internally, we already had problems making the MB accountable to the party and even in all this, our duty to the public and electorate, to me, is paramount and whatever the view – whether it’s the Sultan’s or the public’s – and there were a lot of negative views, I think it’s the price any responsible party has to face.
TMI: Some constitutional lawyers and critics have said Azmin’s appointment was flawed and not in accordance with the state constitution which states that the person with the majority support should be appointed. Do you agree?
A: I totally agree. I was seen as extremely stern in my view that we should not yield in terms of all these exchanges about the two names, and the preference of the palace and also to the public that we should strictly adhere to the constitution because we are accountable to them.
The biggest dilemma we had at the 11th hour was how to balance the need to move on and not prolong the issue, and the need to conform to the constitution so that any decision made would not set a negative precedent.
This is why we had to convene the political bureau and central committee meeting because whatever the impasse was, at the end of the day, the person who would be sworn in has to endorsed and nominated by the party first. What’s important is that in future when people look back, Azmin was nominated and endorsed by the majority of the House before he was sworn in because anything otherwise would have set a very bad precedent. So, I would consider that the processes leading up to the nomination and swearing-in were definitely not constitutional.
