The plan is to have Penang and Selangor state elections simultaneously
Guan Eng controls the party plus Penang state at the same time. Azmin, however, only controls Selangor state but not yet the party. And that means he is at the mercy of the party president, Wan Azizah. So he needs to oust Wan Azizah and take over the party presidency before they hold state elections in Penang and Selangor simultaneously. If not Azmin’s career ends the day they dissolve the Selangor State Assembly.
THE CORRIDORS OF POWER
Raja Petra Kamarudin
Most media agencies and news portals published similar reports about the DAP-PKR meeting in Penang, which you can read below. Basically, the meeting was supposed to be to discuss the possibility of dissolving the Penang State Assembly to make way for state elections.
But what was not revealed or reported is that the meeting was more than just about dissolving the Penang State Assembly. It was also about dissolving the Selangor State Assembly at the same time.
The impression being given is that DAP is pushing for new elections in Penang — triggered, of course, by the criminal charge that Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng is facing, which may result in him going to jail — while PKR is coy about the matter.
The reason DAP wants to dissolve the Penang State Assembly and call for state elections is to prove that in spite of the corruption charge that Guan Eng is facing the party still has the support of the Chinese. Secondly, they hope to do even better during the new state elections to prove that the ‘political persecution’ that Guan Eng is being subjected to has angered the Chinese. Hence the action against Guan Eng has backfired.
What Pakatan Harapan is worried about is that the whole thing might instead go the other way. People might view the Penang state elections as a waste of time and money and merely a ‘save Guan Eng’ exercise to avoid him having to step down or take leave while awaiting the verdict of the trial. And if this happens then DAP might do worse in the new state elections compared to the general election in 2013.
One way to deflect this would be for Selangor to also hold state elections at the same time. If the Selangor State Assembly is also dissolved and they hold state elections in Penang and Selangor simultaneously, then no one can say this is about saving Guan Eng.
It would then not be DAP that wants new elections but something that Pakatan Harapan wants. Hence this is not about Guan Eng or about saving Guan Eng.
And that is why the news report below says they need to further consider and discuss this before making a decision. PKR will agree to the dissolution of the Penang State Assembly if DAP can also agree to the dissolution of the Selangor State Assembly. Then both states can hold elections at the same time.
So why could they not just agree to this two days ago? Why the need to go back and discuss further before deciding? Well, the reason is because they cannot quite agree on the timing.
Nurul Izzah and Saifuddin Nasution have no problems with whatever timing DAP wants — subject, of course, to the agreement of Anwar Ibrahim and Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail. If DAP agrees to joint Penang-Selangor state elections then PKR can go along with DAP.
But Selangor Menteri Besar Azmin Ali is not agreeable to this.
Azmin and Guan Eng have had their own four-eyes meeting that did not involve the others and Azmin told Guan Eng he wants the dissolution of the Penang and Selangor State Assemblies to be delayed another two or three months until after September for a few reasons.
One would be they need Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s new party to be registered and for the new opposition coalition to be formed first. So it would not be a three-member coalition of PKR, DAP and PAN under the umbrella of Pakatan Harapan. It would be a bigger coalition of more parties under Pakatan Harapan 2.0 or whatever they are going to call it.
Secondly and even more important would be if the twin state elections are held now then Azmin would have no say regarding the Selangor candidates. Wan Azizah would make that decision and she will make sure that all the candidates are her people and none of Azmin’s people get to contest. They might even raise the matter of Azmin’s affair with one PKR intern and disqualify him from contesting, which will surely end Azmin’s political career.
Wan Azizah knows about Azmin’s deal with Mahathir to take over the PKR party presidency. So Wan Azizah knows that if she does not kill off Azmin then it would be a matter of time before Azmin kills her off instead. And the best way to kill off your opponent is during the elections by making sure that your adversary’s supporters or even your adversary itself does not get any seats to contest.
So Azmin has to make sure that he first becomes the party president before he dissolves the Selangor State Assembly and holds state elections. Then he decides who gets to contest. If not the Selangor state elections will be the knife that will cut his throat. And Azmin needs at least two to three months to oust Wan Azizah and take over the presidency of the party.
Guan Eng does not care too much about Wan Azizah. But he does care about Mahathir and he knows if Azmin is ousted then the old man would get very upset. And you do not want to upset Mahathir when you are facing a trial and a possible jail sentence, which only Mahathir can help you escape from.
So while the whole country is focused on whether the Penang State Assembly is going to be dissolved to make way for state elections — and if it is going to happen when will it be — the real issue behind the scenes, which is going unnoticed, is the timing so that the Selangor State Assembly can also be dissolved at the same so that Penang and Selangor can have simultaneous elections.
The problem is, while Guan Eng controls the party plus Penang state at the same time, Azmin only controls Selangor state but not yet the party. So that very crucial timing would be once Azmin ousts Wan Azizah and takes over the presidency of PKR. Then Guan Eng would be the Tokong of Penang while Azmin will be the Tokong of Selangor. And combined both Tokong would control the two richest states in Malaysia.
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Penang snap election: DAP waits for consensus
(Bernama) — The DAP-led Penang government will give time to the DAP’s partners in the Pakatan Harapan pact to have consultations on the proposed snap election for the state, said Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng.
He said at a press conference at Kompleks Tun Abdul Razak here Wednesday that any decision on a snap election should be a joint one in the spirit of Pakatan Harapan cooperation by taking into account the views of every partner.
“We will not take any unilateral decision; we will continue with the consultations with our partners (PKR and Parti Amanah Negara).
“We will give adequate time for them to consider but, of course, not forever,” he said.
PKR Deputy President Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali, PKR Vice President Nurul Izzah Anwar and PKR Election Strategy Director Saifuddin Nasution were also present at the press conference.
After the press conference, Lim had an audience with Penang Yang Dipertua Negeri Tun Abdul Rahman Abbas at Seri Mutiara here.
Lim, who was accompanied by State Secretary Datuk Seri Farizan Darus, was at Seri Mutiara for almost an hour, but it was not known what was discussed.
The Penang state legislative assembly has 40 seats, of which 19 are held by DAP, 10 by PKR, 10 by Barisan Nasional and one by PAS.
Local media recently reported Deputy Chief Minister II P. Ramasamy as saying that DAP had listed two options as the response to the two corruption charges filed against Lim, who is also the DAP secretary-general.
The first option was to hold a snap election to gauge the people’s response to the charges against Lim, and the second was to wait for the next general election due in August 2018.
Lim was charged in the High Court on June 30 on two counts of corruption related to conversion of an agricultural zone to a housing zone as well as the purchase of land and bungalow at below market price.
At the press conference, Lim said DAP would continue consultations on the state election and that it would not be called unilaterally so as to maintain trust in the pact.
Azmin said PKR appreciated the DAP stand which gave room for Pakatan Harapan partners to have consultations without making a unilateral decision.
“To be fair to Keadilan (PKR), we never said no but we are yet to be convinced on the state election. I will return to Kuala Lumpur and hold discussions with Keadilan and defend the spirit of coalition,” said Azmin who had earlier met Lim, along with Nurul Izzah and Saifuddin.
Azmin said their meeting with Lim was fruitful and went well.
The PKR political bureau met yesterday to discuss current political issues, including the proposed snap election.
