The knives are out for Azmin
Joceline Tan, The Star
IT is a good thing that Datuk Seri Azmin Ali is not a reactive personality, otherwise he would have exploded like a volcano at being called a “joker” who had “done nothing” for Selangor.
However, the person who allegedly made the accusations, Selangor Amanah chief Izham Hashim, has since denied it and blamed the media for inaccurate reporting.
Well, Izham did not actually deny it himself – his state communications director issued a long statement attempting to put things in context, claiming that Izham did not mean to put down the Selangor Mentri Besar.
Amanah president Mohamad Sabu also urged them not let their dispute spill over in the media or on social media.
But the damage has been done and the cat is out of the bag – Pakatan Harapan in Selangor is deeply fissured.
The eruption of words did not surprise those in the know, although Hulu Klang assemblyman Saari Sungip said he was surprised that it took this long for things to boil over.
Outwardly, the disagreement is over the negotiation of seats in Selangor, especially the allocation of state seats among the four Pakatan partners.
In reality, it was a result of months – or even years – of built-up frustrations bubbling to the surface. Amanah also felt that it should have replaced PAS in state posts.
The recent eruption is about having a stake on the seats that PAS had contested when it was part of Pakatan Rakyat.
They are resentful that Azmin seems more “in love” with PAS than with Amanah, and are now demanding that he takes a stand on Selangor seats.
They also suspect that Azmin is negotiating with PAS behind the scenes and it is no secret that its Paya Jaras assemblyman Mohd Khairuddin Othman has one foot in PKR and the other in the Islamist party.
However, PAS leaders deny there was any such negotiation. They said they have been trying to get Azmin to the table but he is playing it cool.
So what is Azmin’s game plan? The PKR deputy president is quite impossible to read but it seems like he is not going to be pressured into a quick solution.
He saw what happened when Pribumi politicians created a scene at the state Pakatan gathering in Negri Sembilan, complaining that they were not consulted.
Azmin’s supporters have questioned why Amanah is putting pressure on him when other states, including Penang, have yet to conclude their negotiation of state seats.
They are also furious with Amanah for accusing Azmin of not doing anything for Selangor because they feel he has managed Selangor’s multi-racial population much better than the Penang government.
“This sort of thing (seat negotiations) cannot be done overnight. We’ve got to be strategic in assessing each seat based on the strength of the parties involved,” said a PKR assemblyman.
The trouble is that Amanah, which is anxious to settle the seats issue, is also seen as the weakest component of Pakatan.
The party has struggled with credibility issues ever since their defeat in the Sungai Besar by-election.
Some of the Selangor Pakatan leaders have also approached Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad to get him to assert his clout over Selangor.
Amanah’s aggressiveness is also seen as having the backing of DAP.
Selangor DAP chairman Tony Pua and Azmin are barely talking and it is no secret that DAP would prefer someone else as mentri besar after GE14.
DAP leaders are upset that the Selangor government is Pakatan Harapan in name only but still functioning with a Pakatan Rakyat structure even though Azmin has recently frozen the allocations of PAS elected representatives.
The seats negotiation has be done sooner or later.
