KUALA LUMPUR, July 9 — Selangor Pakatan Rakyat (PR) representatives did not discuss ousting Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim from his mentri besar’s seat, his party-mate and arch-rival Azmin Ali said, rubbishing rumours over yesterday’s high-level backbenchers’ meeting.
But the murmurs of unease at the second-term mentri besar’s handling of political and economic issues have been growing among his allies who are now seeking to set up more committees to check Khalid’s administration of Malaysia’s most developed state, Azmin added.
“The meeting was not about a no-confidence vote against MB Khalid, but more on many issues which have been affecting the state under his current leadership.
“It was a frank discussion, and the mood was that many state assemblymen are concerned with what is going on, and they want the state government to take a more proactive approach in these matters than what they are currently doing,” the PKR whip told The Malay Mail Online when contacted.
Azmin, who chaired the state Backbenchers’ Club (BBC) meeting yesterday, said many PR assemblymen had voiced their worry with Khalid’s conduct on three main issues: the raid and seizure of the “Allah” bibles by state Islamic religious enforcers; the state administration’s conditional approval for six new proposed highways slicing through urban Selangor and the persistent statewide water disruptions.
Asked point blank if the representatives had discussed replacing Khalid, Azmin said “No”.
But the incumbent PKR deputy president was swift to add, “All these issues eventually lead to how he has been running the state, so there was a discussion on that and on what can be done to make things better.”
Among the suggestions, Azmin said was the formation of state select committees to monitor and to present findings on how to improve the management of the state government in certain areas.
“Take the water issue for example. Even though the state says the crisis is solved, the crisis is actually still there. There are still unscheduled water cuts, and we do not know the proper status of the state’s water reserves.
“Empower a state select committee to be able to make a fair assessment of things and to submit proposals, there is a need for this,” the Bukit Antarabangsa assemblyman added.
The Malay Mail Online understands that DAP and PKR leaders siding with Azmin are in general agreement that Khalid must go.
Khalid’s detractors within the PR bloc have often accused the former corporate man of acting unilaterally in governing Selangor, instead of consulting the PR leadership at the national level.
Khalid’s push for the controversial Kinrara-Damansara Expressway (Kidex) have also raised hackles among Selangorians, said PR leaders who fear the MB’s action conflicts with the coalition’s Election 2013 manifesto to abolish tolled highways.
The push to oust Khalid has been gearing up in the last few weeks, but have yet to gain much traction from PAS.
Its Islamist partner appears to be impeding Khalid’s removal, waiting for the appropriate cue to take from its national leadership.
“They are waiting to see what the national leadership says. They will not move or take any risks without a decision from the top,” a Selangor PR source told The Malay Mail Online.
Only two state PAS backbenchers — Hulu Kelang assemblyman Saari Sungib and Lembah Jaya assemblyman Khasim Abdul Aziz — attended the meeting chaired by Azmin, a sign that some say signals the Islamist party’s reluctance to see Khalid dropped as MB.
Azmin confirmed the duo were the only ones from PAS who attended the meeting, but played down its significance.
“Even from PKR and DAP, not everyone could attend. It is normal, it is not an indication of anything,” he added.
For the past year, Khalid has consistently denied he is stepping down as MB, saying he will do so only after serving out his second term in office.
But the 67-year-old conceded that state lawmakers could call for a vote of no-confidence against him if they wished, since Selangor’s state laws allow for it.
“It is already in the Selangor state enactment. Anything can be done according to the provisions of the law,” he told reporters last night while breaking fast at a hotel in Subang Jaya.
Some in PKR want party president Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail to replace Khalid as state mentri besar, following her recent win at the Kajang by-election, although it has yet to be determined what her role in this latest turn of events will be.
