KUALA LUMPUR, July 3 — The choice of Khalid Samad as the new Federal Territories Minister possibly raised more than a couple of eyebrows.
But the Shah Alam MP believes he was appointed to the Cabinet portfolio because Parti Amanah Negara (Amanah), of which he is a member, ceded seats in the national capital to its Pakatan Harapan (PH) allies.
The Amanah communications director pointed out that his party gave up its sole parliamentary seat in the Federal Territories, Titiwangsa, to Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (PPBM) to resolve the deadlock in seat negotiations for the 14th general election.
“I think maybe Tun Mahathir, in recognition of our sacrifice, decided to give the ministry position to Amanah,” Khalid told Malay Mail in an interview yesterday, referring to Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
“So instead of having no parliamentary seats whatsoever in Wilayah, now all the parliamentary seats in Wilayah fall under Amanah because I’m the minister.”
PH won all 11 federal seats in Kuala Lumpur in the May 9 election (PKR won five, DAP four, PPBM one, and one by an independent who later joined PKR).
Barisan Nasional won the Putrajaya and Labuan parliament seats in the Federal Territories.
Khalid was sworn in as FT minister today before Yang di-Pertuan Agong Sultan Muhammad V of Kelantan, alongside 12 other PH federal lawmakers, including his party colleague Datuk Mujahid Rawa Yusof who was made minister in the Prime Minister’s Department in charge of religion.
Other ministers from Amanah sworn in last May were Mohamad Sabu (Defence), Salahuddin Ayub (Agriculture and Agro-based Industry), and Dzulkefly Ahmad (Health), totalling five Cabinet ministers from the party that won 11 parliamentary seats in Election 2018.
