Selangor Menteri Besar Khalid Ibrahim was today bombarded with questions by journalists on whether the sultan was displeased with his announcement on the establishment of the syura (consultative) council.

Speaking at a press conference at Shah Alam, Khalid repeatedly skirted the questions, sparked by the Sultan’s denial yesterday that he had advised for the formation of the council to probe the Selangor Islamic Religious Department (Jais) raid on a hall located on church grounds.

NONE "His highness’ concern was that the body ( syura council) may conflict with the duties of the Selangor Islamic Affairs Council (Mais).

"He instead said that we should just go out and do the job," explained Khalid.

He added that he had spent last night conferring and performing the evening prayers with the sultan.

Pressed if the sultan had conveyed his displeasure with the syura council itself, he again evaded a straight answer.

"In an administration, we try to correct (errors). We do not let it snowball into other issues. That is all," he said.

However, Khalid reiterated that the body to address the body will no longer be known as the syura council and has been renamed the 'hearing' working group.

‘Sultan shocked’

On Monday, the Selangor state government announced that it would set up a consultative council to “resolve” the controversy, to be dubbed the ‘syura council’.

“The idea to form this syura council came from the Selangor sultan when we had a discussion over the matter last week. I appreciate His Highness’ advice regarding how best to resolve this matter satisfactorily,” Khalid said in a statement.

However, the sultan yesterday expressed shock over the announcement and said he did not sanction the formation of the council.

It was in reaction to this, that the Selangor government has renamed it a ‘hearing working group’.

But the name change, Khalid stressed, will not change the original motive and duties of the group, to root out the real story behind the controversial raid which Jais insists is only an ‘inspection visit’.

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