The Pakatan Rakyat leadership council will advise Selangor Menteri Besar Abdul Khalid Ibrahim not to rush into the water restructuring agreement following last week's signing of the memorandum of understanding with the federal government.

The council, which took this decision at its meeting in Kuala Lumpur this afternoon, said it would also send an emissary team of three to convey this message to Khalid today.

PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim ( left ) said the trio will be DAP deputy president Tan Kok Wai, PKR secretary-general Saifuddin Nasution and PAS central committee member Dzulkefly Ahmad.

"The council agreed to send three representatives... to convey the view that a more detailed explanation must be given on the impact of the agreement on the Selangor water tariff as well as several other aspects, including the Langat 2 water treatment plant, before the deal is signed," Anwar said.

Khalid said earlier today that a "heads of agreement" will be signed between the federal and state governments soon, following his meeting with Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak yesterday.

The MB has also called for a meeting with all Pakatan Selangor parliamentarians and assemblypersons this afternoon to brief them on the MOU.

High impact

Anwar, meanwhile, denied that Khalid would need endorsement from Pakatan leaders before signing any deal but said that this deal especially needed Pakatan input due to its high impact.

“We saw that there could be a problem with vagueness in the MOU which could affect interpretation, especially on the Langat 2...

“So we feel there needs to be some humility and transparency, and for us to be informed about it. There is nothing wrong with us giving input,” he added.

He said that although the MOU was already signed, Khalid should still get input from party leaders.

“The federal government, too, must be reasonable and not call at 11pm and insist that the MOU must be signed at 10 the next morning. This never happened before and raises questions.

“By right, due notice should be given as this is a deal worth RM9.6 billion or even RM11 billion. Why not give one or two days' notice? This was what was raised,” he stressed.

Also at the press conference was PAS secretary general Mustafa Ali ( left ) who said that Pakatan leaders should be privy to the contents of the MOU.

 

“The top leaders have not even sighted the MOU officially, and this is needed to ensure that any decision made by the state runs smoothly.

“This is why any decision should be taken collectively. The leaders want to know the details of the MOU as it impacts the state and the people. As such, a briefing to the leaders on this is due,” he said.

 

Anwar urges suit against Hadi dropped

 

On a separate matter, Anwar urged Dungun PKR Youth chief Mohd Shamsul Mat Amin to drop his RM2 million defamation suit against PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang.

He said that he had met with the family of the former PKR Bukit Besi candidate, who had obtained a default judgement against Hadi last month, to seek cooperation.

“We advised that this case be dropped not only because it involves a friend but a Pakatan leader.

“Saifuddin has met him (Shamsul) to urge this and he agrees; I have also met Shamsul's father who also agrees,” he said.

The Terengganu High Court on Feb 24 instructed Abdul Hadi ( right ) to pay RM2 million in a default judgement obtained by Shamsul, after the PAS president failed to file a writ to challenge Shamsul.

Shamsul sued Abdul Hadi over a statement he allegedly made accusing Shamsul of dealing in pil kuda (methamphetamines).

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