From the minute when Pakatan Rakyat announced the Kajang Move, I keep asking myself the reason behind this.
As I have stated in my previous article, ‘Excuses and afterthoughts on ‘Kajang Move’?’ I have read various articles and explanations in justifying the move but was unconvinced.
At that point of time, I really hoped that I was just being too pessimistic to think that the Kajang Move is nothing but for some leaders’ own political gains. Unfortunately, it seems that my instinct at that time was right.
As much as some leaders tried very hard at that time to deny that the Kajang Move is to remove Abdul Khalid Ibrahim as the Menteri Besar of Selangor, they are now seen as being so desperate for Khalid to be removed, to the extent that some even openly admitted that that was the plan and reason behind the Kajang Move.
From the Kajang Move until now, some serious weaknesses and problems can be seen in Pakatan Rakyat:
1. Unity between the ‘equal coalition partners’.
While it is always said that all three parties, namely PKR, DAP and PAS are ‘equal coalition partners’, and are said to be ready to rule Putrajaya together, it is disappointing to see that they are not united and are seen trying to dominate one another.
They also see themselves as separate entity. This can be seen when PKR came out with its Kajang Move without first consulting its partners where senior leaders like DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng and PAS spiritual leader Nik Aziz Nik Mat admitted that they were kept in the dark.
PKR then again by itself declared that they have decided for PKR president Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail to replace Khalid as the menteri besar of Selangor and claimed that this was accepted by the Pakatan Rakyat in its presidential council meeting, in which this was later disputed by PAS.
And mind you, those who disputed this are not some random members but the president and spiritual leader themselves.
2. Honesty and integrity
After the Kajang Move, I seriously doubt the honesty and integrity of some leaders.
At first, they were telling the people that the Kajang Move was for the common good of Pakatan and was part of the strategy to defend Selangor and capture Putrajaya and that for Khalid to be replaced as the MB was only an “option”.
However, now it seems that it was not an “option” but that was exactly the plan and the only objective of the Kajang Move at the very beginning.
After all these, I seriously doubt if the Pakatan is fit and ready
to rule Putrajaya.
From the day after the 13th general election, the infighting between parties and leaders over the position of the Selangor MB continues till now. I wonder what would happen if the Pakatan Rakyat successfully took over Putrajaya?
Many Pakatan Rakyat leaders are blaming Khalid for all issues and felt that he needs to be replaced without realising (or rather chose to ignore) the fact that their members are in the state executive council.
While it is true that Khalid is the menteri besar, I believe that most of the decisions, if not all, will have to be decided by the state executive council. And if Khalid is to be blamed, I believe that all the state exco should equally be blamed as well, at least for their failure to stop Khalid from making those decisions.
Taking the Selangor pay hike issue for example, the whole motion was debated and passed in the Selangor State Legislative Assembly by the Pakatan state assemblymen during the sitting but Khalid was the only one that was blamed.
The politicians in Pakatan have seemed to forget that the very reason the rakyat voted for them for the past two general elections.
The rakyat wants them to be different from UMNO and BN where they should put the interests of the rakyat and nation before politics.
No different from Umno/BN
The recent moves and political tactics used by some Pakatan leaders have seem to show that they are no different from UMNO/BN.
In order to reach their own political objective, some leaders have even opted to use the scare tactics (in which they have always criticised BN for doing so) to warn, threaten and scare the people that if PAS insists to support Khalid, it could lead Pakatan Rakyat to break up and the current two-party system will be ended in which it would lead Malaysia back to the dark era.
If Pakatan is really going to break up because of this issue, then it would be good for them to break up now as they are certainly not fit to takeover Putrajaya.
Not only that, some leaders are even trying to play the ‘sex card’ (as playing the race and religion card would not work here) by suggesting that the reason why PAS refused for Khalid Ibrahim to be replaced by Wan Azizah is because she is a woman.
If that is the reason, I am sure that PAS would have surely objected for Hannah Yeoh to be the first woman speaker.
It is really disappointing and disgusting to see that these leaders, who should be the one leading Malaysia to a better tomorrow and bring hope to all Malaysians would go so ‘low’ and play these dirty politics for their own political gains by sacrificing the interest of the people and nation.
If they genuinely believe that Wan Azizah or whoever would be a better MB than Khalid, then they should tell and convince the rakyat why Wan Azizah would be a better MB and not resort to these dirty tactics.
They should understand and remember that another reason why the rakyat voted for them is because the rakyat is already tired of all these moves and tactics which were always used and played by the BN.
Should go for a vote of no-confidence
Further, since Pakatan, especially PKR and DAP were so desperate to remove Khalid, they should pass a vote of no-confidence against him in the Selangor State Legislative Assembly.
To be a menteri besar, like a prime minister, he or she must be able to command the majority of the House. A vote of no-confidence would be the best solution to decide whether Khalid should be allowed to continue his term or not.
While many argues that Khalid no longer have the support of his party and therefore he should step down gracefully, one should not forget that according to the result of the PKR party election, if not because of Saifuddin Nasution, who is seen as a ‘spoiler’ by many, Khalid might have gotten more than 50 percent of the votes and won the deputy presidential race by now.
Of course, winning or losing the race should not mean anything directly to the post of menteri besar but that would mean that the claim that he no longer has the support of the party is untrue.
Moreover, even if Khalid decides to resign from the post of MB, it does not necessarily mean that Wan Azizah would definitely be able to command the majority of the State Assembly.
Therefore, instead of arguing day and night which has caused the interests of the rakyat being sidelined, Pakatan or whichever Selangor state assemblyperson who is of the opinion that Khalid no longer commands the majority of the House, should propose a vote of no-confidence against him in the State Assembly and settle this issue once and for all!
