KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 10 — Making Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim the mentri besar of Selangor will let Pakatan Rakyat (PR) seize the advantage in the current “stalemate” with rival Barisan Nasional (BN), DAP’s Liew Chin Tong said today.

But the Kluang MP also acknowledged that the so-called “Kajang Move” may have been necessitated by an internal feud in PKR, rumoured to involve deputy president Azmin Ali and Selangor MB Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim that the party continues to deny.

“After GE13, Anwar too seemed to be stuck politically. At the same time it would not be prudent for the Pakatan-ruled Selangor leaders to continue its public spats. Something serious must be done now,” Liew said in an essay titled “The quest for a breakthrough” today.

In it, Liew echoed the reason offered by Rafizi Ramli, the PKR strategy director and admitted mastermind of the move who asserted that the Kajang state seat was the first step in PR’s “quest” to capture Putrajaya.

Asserting that the role of mentri besar would afford Anwar a profile similar to that of the prime minister, the DAP national political education director said this would generate a halo effect that could help the opposition pact rally Malay support that was now unfocused.

“In several states where Pakatan’s lack of a clear MB candidate also proved to be a dent in its armour. The point is that state politics is very important in the minds of the Malay voters,” Liew said.

Liew added that providing Anwar a platform as MB would also allow PR to tap into youth support heading into the next general election that must be held by 2018, saying that those reaching the voting age then would have been born after the height of the Reformasi movement of the late 90s.

Claiming that the number of first-time voters could be as high as 18 million by the time Malaysians next go to the ballot boxes, Liew said this important demographic might not be aware of what transpired in Anwar’s sacking as deputy prime minister then.

“To reach this generation of new voters, we need to translate the idealism and spirit of 1998 into practical policies and results. In the current soul-searching period since GE13, both BN and Pakatan are seeking for a point of breakthrough,” Liew added.

Despite Liew’s explanation today, PKR and Anwar remain non-committal on whether the party’s de facto leader will be made mentri besar if he succeeds in winning the Kajang by-election.

Anwar previously said his entry into the Selangor government was necessary to tackle a rise in racial and religious tension as well as to use his political experience to deflect attacks against the state administration currently led by MB Khalid.

And despite the expression of support from the DAP MP, leaders in PAS were vocal in their opposition towards making Anwar the MB of Selangor, going as far as saying they will nominate their own candidate if Khalid is removed.

In a surprise move, PKR’s Lee Chin Cheh resigned as Kajang assemblyman, presumably to pave way for Anwar to contest the by-election.

The unforced resignation fuelled rumours that it was to allow Anwar to join the state assembly for the purpose of removing Khalid from his post.

The EC has set March 23 as the polling date for the Kajang by-election, the country’s third since Election 2013 last May.

Lee won the Kajang state seat in Election 2013 with a 6,824-vote majority in the constituency that is 48 per cent Malay, 41 per cent Chinese and 10 per cent Indian.