After failing to convince his party colleagues that Selangor PAS chief Hasan Ali was out of line by condemning a state legislative assembly committee, Shah Alam MP Khalid Samad is making his case public.

khalid samad 160609 03 In a posting on his blog , Khalid (right) summarised the five points he had made at the emergency Selangor PAS liaison meeting last Sunday, called after Hasan's stinging criticism of the Selangor Select Committee on Competancy, Accountability and Transparency (Selcat).

Hasan had caused a stir when he criticised Selcat's methods of questioning civil servants, called to testify in an inquiry on how former Barisan Nasional state representatives allegedly misappropriated state funds prior to the general election last year.

He claimed that Selcat had humiliated the civil servants in question. He then called for a revamp of Selcat by appointing former judges to the seven-member panel, which now comprises state representatives.

In his posting, Khalid compared the Selcat issue to that of the controversial whipping sentence meted out by the Pahang Syariah Court to part-time model Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarno for drinking beer in public.

NONE "If the issue is embarrassing or humiliating (the civil servants), why didn't we oppose the whipping sentence on Kartika? Is misappropriation of public funds less important than (the penalty) for drinking alcohol?" he wrote.

"Are we implying that Islam is lenient on the former and not the latter? If we accept the whipping sentence against Kartika, then the open investigation (by the inquiry) should not be objected to."

Khalid said that, when Hasan made comments in his capacity as the state executive council member, the public perceived that PAS was the only one backing the civil servants, even though other Pakatan Rakyat partners had agreed through internal channels to improve Selcat's inquiry methods.

"I asked during the meeting: Wouldn't it have been better if (Hasan) had said Pakatan had agreed to improve Selcat's methods of questioning, so there can be no claim that this was intended to humiliate the civil servants?

"If this had been said, it would not have looked as if (PAS) had sidestepped our friends in Pakatan and PAS would not have looked like it was stabbing its friends in the back.."

Khalid also defended his public criticism of Hasan, saying it was because he wanted to show the public that PAS is committed to the Pakatan coalition. This, he said, is important for the coalition in widening its base of support both in the state and in rest of the country.

No disciplinary action?

He also said that, as a state exco, Hasan should have backed the Selangor government's efforts to encourage competency, transparency and accountability in the civil service.

"I stressed that, if Hasan is unable to cooperate with other exco members, he should resign as an exco and become a backbencher. I never told him to quit PAS or Pakatan," he said.

Khalid also referred to a Pakatan convention held in Petaling Jaya following Hasan's spat with exco colleague Ronnie Liu over the Selangor beer-ban controversy, during which it was decided that disciplinary action should be taken against those engaging in intra-party public disputes.

"I asked (during the meeting): Don't we have to live up to our promises?" Khalid added.

Hasan has been taken to task by certain PAS leaders and several PKR and DAP leaders over his criticism of fellow Pakatan leaders and the state government on a number of occasions.

Many are of the view that he is intentionally sowing discord within Pakatan to destabilise its administration of Selangor which it won in the general election last year.