Come clear on Pakatan’s existence, demands Salleh Keruak
(Berita Daily) – PKR, PAS and DAP must clear the air on the status of Pakatan Rakyat’s government in Selangor since all three parties had clearly made contradictory remarks about their political coalition with each other.
Former chief minister of Sabah, Salleh Said Keruak on his latest blog posting urged the three opposition parties to make up their mind about the existence of Pakatan Rakyat coalition government.
“We are hearing one party saying ‘yes’ and the second party saying ‘no’ and yet a third saying it is an internal issue between the first two parties and does not involve them, the third party.
“Pakatan Rakyat has to make up its mind and not keep the people in ignorance. Either Pakatan Rakyat does or does not exist. It has to be one or the other. It cannot be both at the same time,” he said.
The Sabah Umno strongman also questioned if PAS was still part of the opposition coalition after ending its ties with DAP.
He added that Selangor Menteri Besar Azmin Ali would not let PAS go after the Islamic party had helped him in becoming the MB replacing former PKR member Khalid Ibrahim as the head of Selangor’s administration.
“We are still not clear as to whether PAS has been kicked out of Pakatan Rakyat. That seems to be the picture being presented although PAS denies it and insists that it is still in the coalition, which is supposed to no longer exist according to DAP.
“Selangor Menteri Besar Azmin Ali will definitely not make any decision on sacking PAS because he owes PAS a debt for making him the MB. But then to continue supporting PAS means he must defy his own party, PKR,” he stated.
However, he suggested an alternative for Selangor by ‘advising’ one or two PAS state assemblymen to resign from their party but could stay as PKR-friendly independent assemblymen.
This, he said, would give PR a simple majority in the state.
“With DAP’s 15 seats and PKR’s 13, that would give them only 28 of the 56 seats, or exactly 50%, and this means Selangor is now a hung government.
“The alternative could be for one or two of the PAS assemblypersons to resign from their party and announce that they are now independent but ‘PKR-friendly’.”
“This would give them 29 or 30 seats in Selangor and therefore they would now have a simple majority,” he opined.
The internal conflict in Selangor started when former menteri besar Khalid Ibrahim was asked to vacate his seat by his own party PKR.
Khalid refused and was sacked from the party, paving way for Gombak MP Azmin Ali to take over the state, with the blessings of the Sultan of Selangor.
The fiasco deepened after PAS agreed to proceed with its hudud law in Kelantan, resulting it to cut ties with DAP who had been vocal against with the hudud agenda.
With the end of PAS and DAP’s relationship in PR, several PAS leaders who were defeated during their recent party elections decided to create a new organisation after announcing disappointment with current president Abdul Hadi Awang.
