MB's new pol-sec confident despite speculation

 It had been no walk in the park for Faekah Husin, the incoming political secretary to the Selangor Menteri Besar, in arriving at the decision to take up the position .

"People are usually established at this age, and here I am at 45 starting on something new...It took me three weeks to decide after the offer was made, thinking of all the sacrifices I would have to make," she said.

One of the sacrifices is likely to be her stake in her law firm, Faekah and Choung, which she may need to dispose of to become Khalid Ibrahim's right hand person.

"I've sought an appointment with the state legal advisor and we will see what I'll need to do," said Faekah ( left ), the first female appointee to the post.

But what made her decision most difficult, she said, was her mother's reaction.

"She cried when she I told her about it; she asked what are you chasing?"

"I was saddened, but I told her I was not chasing anything, and what I already have is not much to begin with anyway," she said.

And barely a couple of days into the job, Faekah is already under the media spotlight ("I have reporters waiting in front of my house!"), and caught in a storm of speculation.

Political pundits' reading is that her appointment marks another episode in the alleged rift between Khalid and party vice-president Azmin Ali.

Having replaced supposed Azmin-loyalist Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad ( right ) who will assume the post of PKR communications chief, she is now the target of talk that she was chosen for her loyalty to the MB.

But as far she is concerned, Faekah is solidly "in the president's camp", having been Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail's political secretary since 2003.

In fact, she said, being appointed to the Universiti Selangor (Unisel) board of directors in May 2008 had less to do with Khalid, as claimed by many, but more with de-facto party leader Anwar Ibrahim.

"To my knowledge it was (Anwar) who nominated me through the proper channels," said Faekah, who sat on the PKR Wanita Leadership Council from 2001 to 2004.

Prior to that, she was Selangor Wanita PKR information chief, treasurer for Negeri Sembilan Wanita PKR and Selangor PKR secretary in 2005, under Khalid.

She was also company secretary in 2008 for another state-owned higher education institution, Selangor International Islamic University College (Kuis).

But the accomplished lawyer insists that she was "only there to help" when the company secretary resigned within 24 hours in March 2008, when Kuis was gunning to be upgraded to university status.

"I never billed them for the work. If you like, you can ask the people at Kuis to see how much they paid me," she said in an unguarded moment.

Dealing with ‘degil' Khalid

She also brushed off allegations that she is a ‘Khalid ( left) crony', just because her law firm had once won a contract with Guthrie Development when the MB was group chief executive officer.

"We were actually rejected in the first round and told we did not know how to put forward a proposal. We won another contract later, but I had not met the MB then," she said.

Having worked with him later through party work, however, Faekah admits that the MB can be degil (stubborn) and can sometimes switch off criticism.

"But which corporate person of that stature and age is not degil ? It's all about having the right approach, and I think I understand how he thinks, and we are on the same wavelength," she said.

She also has no problems in taking over from incumbent Nik Nazmi, who, she said, she has known for a long time due to the latter's friendship with Anwar's daughter and now Pantai Dalam MP Nurul Izzah.

"I like to think of it as the second phase of my struggle. It's like ‘Okay Faekah, now is your chance to do all the things you were yelling about at party level'," she said.