Selangor PAS to add ‘more than two’ names to MB list

SHAH ALAM, Aug 28 — The nomination list for Selangor’s mentri besar post is set to grow with Selangor PAS saying today it will add more names to the bag, despite its central leadership decision to cap the number of nominees to two.

State PAS commissioner Iskandar Abdul Samad said the party would abide by the Selangor Sultan’s decree of wanting more than two candidates from each Pakatan Rakyat party.

“PAS will abide by what Tuanku (Sultan) wants, it is more than two, we shall abide,” he told reporters when met at the state secretariat building here.

But Iskandar maintained that the PAS leadership has yet to reach a final decision on the matter, and would do so by September 3.

“The PAS central leadership will have the final say,” he added.

PAS secretary-general Datuk Mustafa Ali said earlier today that the party will nominate two assemblymen from PKR for the post of Selangor mentri besar and none from among its own state lawmakers.

Mustafa also suggested that the two will likely be PKR president Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail and deputy president Azmin Ali, despite a request from PAS Youth to nominate state deputy Speaker Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad.

“We have not sent an official letter, so I do not want to pre-empt it. But more or less it will be the two,” Mustafa told Malay Mail Online through phone, referring to Dr Wan Azizah and Azmin.

Earlier on his Facebook page, Mustafa clarified that the party would keep with its suggestion of two PKR assemblymen for the post.

In a report by PAS mouthpiece HarakahDaily today, Mustafa also insisted that PAS will not be suggesting one of its own for the post.

“We will not nominate a PAS assemblyman for the post because the Selangor mentri besar post is PKR’s. We respect that, and this is final,” said Mustafa.

He also rubbished several reports which claimed PAS would suggest at least three names.

Last night, Selangor PAS held a meeting which was also attended by Selangor PAS Commissioner Iskandar Abdul Samad and secretary Mohd Khairuddin Othman, besides Mustafa.

Mustafa clarified that the Selangor mentri besar post was not discussed, but was intended to explain the chronology of the crisis to state members.

Yesterday, PAS insisted that it would submit more than one name for the post, defying the latest Pakatan Rakyat (PR) presidential council’s decision to solely nominate Dr Wan Azizah for the job.

Mustafa was quoted by HarakahDaily as saying that the decision was reached out of respect for the Selangor Sultan’s decree that all three PR parties submit more than two names.

Before the PR presidential council meeting on August 17, where the three parties had agreed on Dr Wan Azizah’s sole nomination, PAS had suggested proposing both Dr Wan Azizah and PKR deputy president Azmin Ali for the top government post in Selangor.