The Selangor government has accepted the validity of Mohammed Khusrin Munawi’s appointment as the state secretary but is still set on plans on limiting his role.

Menteri Besar Khalid Ibrahim said this evening that the state government accepts Khusrin appointment because it was provided for by law. 

"The appointment is legal because it was stated in the enactment (the state constitution)," he said.

However, the state government will not allow Khusrin to take his secrecy oath, thereby barring him from attending the state exco meeting.

He said that the oath cannot be taken until the state legislative assembly convenes to discuss amendments to the state constitution regarding the appointment of the state secretary.

"There are still a few things that need to be solved. We will not call Khusrin to take his secrecy oath in front of the mentri besar until we reach a decision in the state assembly," he told reporters.

Khalid’s announcement comes amidst the Selangor sultan’s order this morning for the government to accept Khusrin’s appointment.

Khalid said that he had issued written instructions to state legislative assembly speaker Teng Chang Khim to convene the sitting as soon as possible.

Not disobeying sultan

He adds that the state government will discuss the constitutional amendments with the sultan prior to the sitting but stressed that this was done merely as a formality.

"Does any resolution or any bill need to be presented to the sultan, the answer is no,” he said.

Khalid expressed confidence that the sultan will give the greenlight for the amendment.

"I would think that the sultan will agree to restore his powers. He won't disagree, won’t he?" said a beaming Khalid.

However, he refused to speculate whether the amendments would be supported by the BN assemblypersons in order secure at least two-thirds support from the members of the legislative assembly.

To a question, he said that the state government’s plans are not tantamount to disobey the sultan’s desire to see cooperation given to Khusrin.

"I came to see him swearing-in, that is also cooperation,” he said.

He notes that the sultan’s speech this morning, where the ruler mentioned that he would meet the menteri besar regularly to discuss state affairs, was proof of the state governments solid relationship with the palace.

Ex-SS caused problems

Meanwhile, Khalid confirmed that Khusrin’s predecessor Ramli Mahmud had kept the state government in the dark over the appointment.

According to the chronology of communications over Khusrin’s appointment released by the palace, Ramli communicated with the representatives of the chief secretary of the federal government Mohd Sidek Hassan directly over the matter.

"It was not told to me, that's the issue. Ramli did not tell me and Sidek chose to deal with Ramli only, and Ramli chose to deal with Sidek only without the knowledge of the mentri besar. This is one of the issues that lead to today's problem,” he said.

Asked if constitutes an act of sabotage, Khalid replied: "That depends on how you write it". 

He also denied the Sultan's private secretary Mohd Munir Bani’s claims this morning that he did not discuss the candidates for state secretary with the federal public service commission earlier.

"I had have discussion with the public service department since 2009 when Ramli's tenure was extended.”