Pakatan Rakyat states will appoint their own legal advisors and discard the current practice of having the position filled by representatives of the Attorney-General Chambers.

At a press conference ( above ) after the national Pakatan leadership meeting in Parliament today, PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim said the move was necessary in view of the “negligence” of the state legal advisors now appointed by the federal government.

NONE "We will propose for all Pakatan states to appoint their own lawyers as legal advisors," said Anwar ( left ).

"This is because the attorney-general's chambers is not independent. They represent the interest of the Umno BN government. This has caused trouble in the administration of the states, for example in Kelantan, as explained by the state exco earlier today," added the Permatang Pauh parliamentarian.

However, Anwar did not elaborate on what the Kelantan "troubles" were.

State legal advisors have collided with Pakatan administrations on numerous occasions, most prominently in the former Pakatan-controlled Perak last year.

The Selangor state legal advisor has also been blamed for causing delays, against the state government’s wishes, in a suit to compel the federal government to disclose Selangor’s water concession document.

Pakatan scores on sports betting

At the same press conference, Anwar also called the cancellation of the sports betting licence a Pakatan victory, following its intensive nationwide campaign against the issue.

"Because of the effective (anti-sports betting) campaign by Pakatan, the Umno leadership had to bow down and retract the licence.

"This shows that our campaign was effective," said Anwar.

pkr kb convention zaid ibrahim When quizzed, the Opposition leader also rubbished claims that newly-appointed Federal Territories (FT) chief Zaid Ibrahim ( right ) was earmarked as his successor.

"Nurul Izzah is my heir," he joked, referring to his daughter the Lembah Pantai MP.

Anwar’s alleged “special treatment” in giving the party junior Zaid such a high post is fuelling the speculation.

Anwar explained that Zaid's appointment as Federal Territories PKR chief is nothing out of the ordinary.

"It was an internal exercise. There are party leaders who have no specific duties, and so they were given duties. Some take care of Pulau Pinang, some Wilayah (FT) and some Selangor, there is no connection to other issues other than that," added Anwar.

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