Final months of ‘frenemies govt’

Joceline Tan, The Star

SELANGOR’S “government of friends and enemies” is finally about to come to an end.

The state allocations for 15 PAS assemblymen have apparently been terminated effective Jan 1.

Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Azmin Ali, who had been seen as bending over backwards for PAS, is no longer playing the nice guy.

It is a hard blow for the PAS side because the allocations – RM700,000 per year for assemblymen – are an important source of funding for elected representatives. 

All eyes are now on whether Azmin will bring the axe down on the three PAS leaders who are still members of the state exco, or if he will allow the “government of friends and enemies” to go on till the general election.

The trio, Datuk Iskandar Samad, Zaidy Abdul Talib and Dr Ahmad Yunus Hairi, have no intention of resigning from their posts even though their party is planning to contest against Pakatan Harapan in the general election.

Azmin had reportedly threatened to sack Roslan Shahir, the PAS councillor in Majlis Perbandaran Subang Jaya, but that has yet to happen.

Roslan, who is also the Selangor PAS election director, is a vocal and critical political commentator with a big following and it is believed he may have stepped on the Mentri Besar’s toes with his Facebook postings.

The move against PAS is also seen as reaching out to Selangor’s non-Malay audience, especially the Chinese voters who have turned against PAS after supporting the party in the last two elections.

Azmin recently granted interviews to several Chinese vernacular newspapers during which he drummed home the point that there is no electoral pact with PAS and said that Pakatan Harapan is preparing for three-cornered fights with PAS and Barisan Nasional.

Azmin rarely gives interviews and it was the first time he had been this frank about the ties with PAS.

How do you talk about an enemy that is attacking you all the time but which you have to live with under the same roof?

He stressed in the interviews that he had tolerated PAS and had accommodated the party because that was the mandate of the people, but PAS had “gone too far” and is now an enemy of Pakatan.

The implication is that whatever relationship there is left will dissolve when the election is called.

Selangoreans have been very forgiving about this unique frenemies government of Pakatan even as they lash out at the new friendship between PAS and Umno leaders.

To Azmin’s credit, he put his views across in a civil manner, without harsh words or wild accusations even while criticising PAS president Datuk Seri Hadi Awang.

An aide claimed that these were Chinese New Year interviews, that it was a good time to reach out to people who were returning to their hometowns for the festive season. 

But the long and short of it is that Azmin is trying to lock in the Chinese vote by quashing rumours that he is in cahoots with PAS.

Azmin, who is Selangor PKR chief, also denied any secret agreements with PAS or that he had engaged in seat negotiations with it.

However, a PAS insider said a team of Selangor PKR leaders had met with state PAS leaders to negotiate seats. The team, which was led by Ampang MP Zuraidah Kamaruddin, included state PKR secretary Borhan Aman Shah, Taman Medan assemblyman Haniza Talha, and Kota Anggerik assemblyman Yaakob Saapari.

“They put forward a list of 15 seats for us to contest which did not go down well with us. They said that other seats would be open for negotiation.

“But the discussion fell apart because they could not assure us that other Pakatan partners would not contest against us in those seats.

“That is not what we call a deal. It means we have to draw our swords in the general election,” said the PAS insider.

PAS will be contesting 45 state seats and 20 parliamentary seats. That means a galore of multi-cornered fights, given that Selangor has 56 state and 22 parliamentary seats.

The party will also be contesting in four seats currently held by DAP in Sekinchan, Sungai Pelek, Kuala Kubu Baru and Teluk Datuk.

But it is a mystery why PAS is still clinging on as part of the state government. It makes little strategic sense and it undermines all their big plans of being able to go it alone and become the third force in the general election.

The main protagonists keep claiming that they are staying put because that is the wish of the Selangor palace. But during an interview with The Star in December, the Sultan of Selangor denied ever giving out such an instruction to the state government.

PAS should walk out now while they can still hold up their head and allow the state Pakatan to reorganise itself.

During the Sungai Besar by-election in 2016, Azmin had referred to the PAS candidate as “my good friend” and had even worn a white-and-green outfit to a campaign event.

All that is in the past and it is quite clear that Azmin has given up on working with the Islamist party.

There are simply too many obstacles from his Pakatan partners about PAS and his party will now have to lean on the Chinese vote and keep their fingers crossed where the Malay vote is concerned.

The marriage is over, the divorce papers have been signed and, in a normal situation, it would be time for the ex-partners to move on.

But in this case, the ex-partners are preparing for another round of war.