Selangor Sultan gives glimpse of back story to MB crisis in rare interview
(Malay Mail Online) – The Sultan of Selangor has given some details of the back story to Azmin Ali’s rise to the position of state mentri besar in a rare interview, singling out the “self interest” driving PKR at the time.
The Star reported the Sultan as saying that PKR did not concur with the Selangor palace’s decision to pick PKR deputy president Azmin Ali as the state’s mentri besar out of “self interest.”
“I was again shocked when PKR objected to Azmin. This rejection is very, very selfish. He is from the same party but they rejected (him) because of self-interest,” the Sultan was quoted as saying by the local daily.
The Sultan celebrates his official birthday today.
The Sultan was also reported as saying that the state constitution gave him absolute discretion to select who should administer and lead the country’s most industrialised state.
Thinking in the “long term”, he had selected Azmin as mentri besar and to honour the understanding that the position must go to an assemblyman from PKR.
On December 4, the Sultan revoked Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s datukship awarded in 1992, over the PKR de facto leader’s conduct during the state’s mentri besar crisis.
The palace, in a statement, said that Anwar’s title was removed because he had repeatedly disputed the Sultan and the royal house over the MB crisis.
During the course of the abortive move to install Anwar’s wife and PKR president, Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, in place of Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim, the opposition leader had insisted that it was Pakatan Rakyat’s right to name a sole nominee for the position.
Sultan Sharafuddin had prior to that asked each of three parties in the pact to name at least three candidates for mentri besar.
Anwar’s stance led the Selangor palace to rebuke him for “misleading the people”.
Selangor’s protracted leadership crisis ended in September when the Sultan appointed PKR deputy president Azmin Ali to take over the MB post from his former political rival Khalid.
In the interview today, the Sultan also hit out against detractors who suggested that Dr Wan Azizah’s nomination was opposed by the palace over her gender.
“Some people have been too quick to condemn the palace. They made an issue saying I did not want a woman MB.
“These reports by certain news portals made such claims without attributing them to any name.
“I am not against any woman becoming the MB but my benchmark is that she must be like the Bank Negara governor,” said the Sultan, referring to Tan Sri Dr Zeti Akhtar Aziz.
The Sultan also reminded Azmin and his executive council to put their backs into “planning for the long term” and implement plans that will benefit the people.
