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In handling the Selangor menteri besar issue, PKR needs to just stick to the basics.

It is obvious that both Barisan Nasional component parties as well as their strategists and troopers are trying to leverage on this ongoing saga, and create further confusion and suspicion for the rakyat of Selangor.

This is nothing surprising as BN will always look for an opportunity to spin more stories with the hope of driving a wedge further into the three component parties that form Pakatan. It is all a political game.

Internal party matters

First, there is PKR. It is PKR that has appointed Khalid Ibrahim as a 'steward' on its behalf in the administration of the Selangor state government. As a steward or a manager, Khalid is accountable to PKR. The fact that he is a member of PKR, means that his first obligation is to the party which has placed him there as the menteri besar.

It also means that PKR has a right to sack him as a member of the party. With that, all the official posts that he holds within the party as well as those that he has been appointed to as the party's proxy will become obsolete.

Once he is sacked, Khalid cannot cling on to the post as menteri besar since his post is a political appointment. The question now is whether Khalid would prefer to resign gracefully or he chooses to remain defiant. He can also try to drag the issue for as long as he can. The choice is his, but the party has the right to either force him to resign or sack him.

An ultimatum can be set, if Khalid continues to remain defiant. There are no two-ways about it when a member of the party is defiant, as we have seen in the case of Khalid.

PKR may not have the resources as Umno to deal with voices of dissent, but there is a lesson to be learnt from the removal of the former Terengganu menteri besar. Although there were three state assemblypersons who opted out with him, Umno has the final say about the fate of the MB. There is no compromise. Eventually, the Terengganu MB had to step down.

In the case of former Selangor MB Harun Idris, the crisis was much bigger for Umno, which I will not elaborate.

Khalid should by now realise that his post as MB is never permanent. If there are reasons to believe that he is underperforming or abusing his power, the party which he belongs to has the right to intervene, before things get out of hand.

This is for the good of the state administration.

None of his allies - whether from PKR, PAS or even Umno - has any bearing upon the PKR's final decision. That is a given fact. PKR can, out of courtesy, inform its allies that they have decided to remove Khalid as their proxy in the state administration. However, tt does not even have to ask for permission from any of the component parties.

In the case of former PM Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, it was mainly an Umno supreme council decision. When he was forced to leave his post as Umno president, and along with it the post as prime minister of Malaysia, none of the component parties interfered with the decision, despite some of them disagreeing with former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad.

Upon sacking Khalid, or should Khalid decide to go peacefully, PKR will now have to look for an alternative. The agreement between the three parties is clear from the beginning that since PAS has Kelantan and DAP has Penang, therefore, PKR will have the Selangor state to administer.

The leaders in both component parties can sympathise with Khalid, but they cannot interfere with the internal affairs between a party and its member, especially one who is defiant to the party.

If this agreement was made before the GE13, then all component parties should accept PKR's decision over their own preferences. I am sure that even when Najib Abdul Razak was promoted to be the country's fifth prime minister, there were people in both MCA and MIC, not to mention Umno, who disagreed with the supreme council's decision.

One cannot help but to recall Johor Baru MP Shahrir Samad resigning from his post as minister as well as Public Accounts Committee chairperson the moment Najib became PM. However, the status quo is that the choice of PM is in the hands of Umno supreme council.

Therefore, PAS or even DAP have no right to interfere with the Khalid saga. It is an internal party matter which only PKR has the prerogative to deal with. Therefore, the question of PAS assemblypersons talking about aligning with Umno to defend Khalid's post should not even arise at all.

If such thing is mentioned by some junior members of PAS, it is then the responsibility of the senior leaders in PAS to rein in their members who risk tearing apart the good working relationship between the component parties.

What has happened recently with a second press statement being released to the press during the announcement made by Ampang MP Zuraida Kamaruddin is also a clear act of defiance against the decision made by the top people within the party. In this case, the president has been nominated; there is no reason why another name is being suggested during a press conference.

The matter should be discussed internally, unless of course, there are ulterior motives to try to discredit the party leaders in a sabotage attempt.

This has to be clear from now on for all stakeholders.

Within the Pakatan framework

Now, once a candidate has been nominated by PKR to replace Khalid as menteri besar, it is the responsibility of the party to inform the coalition (or alliance, whatever) that Dr Wan Azizah (in this case) has been nominated.

Internally, it has to be endorsed by all three parties although there may be voices of dissent. It is understandable that not every candidate that is nominated will get the support of every person in the party or the coalition, but a final decision made is as good as endorsement from all parties.

The best way to do this is to ask for an internal and secret vote by all Pakatan state assemblypersons, but this is really unnecessary as long as there are two against one in the final decision at the top level.

The same principle applies in the higher courts where a decisions are made by different judges, and the final judgment passed down is based on the decision by the majority. No matter how flawed the arguments are, it is still the majority that makes the decision.

In the case of Wan Azizah, it is either PAS can sway DAP's decision or PAS would have to either play by the rules of the game in Pakatan or leave the coalition. PAS should know Umno better by now after it was played out in the past.

Selangorians

Finally, rest assured that we Selangorians voted Pakatan Rakyat into power, not Khalid Ibrahim. He is the state assemblyperson for Port Klang. Therefore, it is not right for Khalid to say that Selangorians want him to remain as MB and that his party has no business in the way he administer the state matters.

This is both arrogant and naive for someone in his stature to say. It is such a behaviour that is causing Khalid to lose our respect.

Although Khalid was initially supporting the Kidex highway initiated by Putrajaya, I am glad that Pakatan state assemblypersons and Members of Parliament have opposed it.

Bravo to people like Mak Khuin Yen and Cynthia Gabriel, there is also another layer of check-and-balance at the Petaling Jaya Municipal Council (MBPJ) who are keeping watch over the local council plan. If Selangor had been still under the BN rule, most of these projects would have gone ahead, and they would adversely affect our quality of life.

The No Kidex team who did not get a thorough answer from the state officers should now raise the matter with the new menteri besar so that a more transparent decision-making process can be implemented in Selangor.

We Selangorians should look at the bigger picture now that the saga continues to be played up. I would say that even after Khalid is gone, there is still the bigger task ahead to wrest Putrajaya in the coming general election. If Khalid had been a wiser man, he would at least hold the portfolio of a cabinet minister should Pakatan take over Putrajaya.

Will Pakatan ever take over Putrajaya? This depends on US. If the sentiments are still strong that we should replace BN after 57 years under its administration, especially after what we have seen over the years, and if we want to see a two-party democracy where we (the rakyat) are the kingmakers, then, hopefully, by GE14, a new Malaysia will emerge. Meanwhile, we are a nation in birth pangs.


STEPHEN NG is a chemist by training. He dealt with printing ink, paint and emulsion polymer for 15 years before becoming a freelance writer.

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