Infighting in the Selangor government would not hurt Pakatan Rakyat’s chances of retaining the state, said PKR president Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail.

“Problems arise in any administration. How you tackle it and how you get to the root cause, that is what I think is important, and I think the (Selangor) Menteri Besar (Khalid Ibrahim) has done it with the party, so that tackles that problem,” she said.

She said this when asked about PKR strategy director Rafizi Ramli’s resignation as CEO of the Selangor economic adviser’s office.

His resignation on June 21, which he said was to focus on the coming general election, caught even his colleagues by surprise.

State government insiders have alleged that this would lead to an open conflict between him and Khalid’s political secretary Faekah Husin, although Rafizi had previously denied this, saying that his resignation had “no political dimension”.

NONE Wan Azizah ( right ) also said that the issue had been “reported quite widely”, but it is alleged corruption in the Scorpene submarine scandal and the Light Rail Transit (LRT) system that deserves media focus because it involves the future of the country.

When asked whether she meant that the Rafizi’s resignation was unworthy of attention, she responded in the negative.

“It is not that it is not worth paying attention. We have paid attention and enough attention has been paid. We have solved it,” she said. 

People's sense of security

At the press conference, Wan Azizah also asserted that crime must be measured by people’s sense of security, instead of the government citing the crime index to show that the incidence of crime has dropped.

“Crime must be measured by how safe Malaysians feel. At the present, they do not feel safe,” she said.

“The Malaysians we talk to are in the majority and share our opinion that crime is rising at an alarming level across the country and that both the home minister and the police are failing the public security test,” she added.

She demanded that the prime minister, home minister and the police give assurance to solve all crimes, stop blaming others such as the media and activists, and accept public criticism “with an open heart”.

“A crime is a crime. One or many, they need responses,” she said.