Pakatan Rakyat leaders claimed today that Barisan Nasional (BN) representatives had “no choice” but to attend the January 24 emergency state assembly sitting as the Selangor Sultan has already consented to it.
Kampung Tunku assemblyman Lau Weng San reminded BN state assemblyman to not “boycott” the state assembly sitting, saying that such a move would mean that they were against empowering the Selangor Sultan and the state government to appoint the top three civil servants in Selangor via amendments to the state constitution.
“I am urging all BN assemblyman, especially MCA representatives to not boycott, and support the amendments... these amendments will restore the power of appointing the three ex-officio officers to Selangor as well as the Sultan,” he told reporters today.
The DAP leaders said that BN support was needed for the amendments to be passed.
Amendments to the state constitution require a two-thirds majority, which PR currently lacks.
“If they do not attend, this would mean that BN does not support restoring the Sultan’s as well as the power of the state,” he added.
Shah Alam MP Khalid Samad claimed that BN had “no excuses” not to attend the sitting now that the state Ruler has given his consent.
“They cannot say they don’t know the details of the amendments... it’s nothing complicated. We want to restore things to the way they were before 1993.
“It’s not like we are introducing new amendments,” said Khalid.
He noted, however, that the attempts to restore the state’s powers would not be frustrated even if BN assemblymen chose to boycott the upcoming sitting.
“We have other options in place in case this happens. But it will not be as good as the first option,” said the PAS leader.
The Selangor government plans to amend state laws to allow it as well as the Sultan to have a say in the appointment of the state secretary, state legal advisor and state financial officer.
The issue began when the federal government’s appointed Datuk Mohd Khusrin Munawi as the new state secretary on January 1.
The Selangor government claimed Khusrin’s appointment was invalid as Mentri Besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim had not been informed of the selection.
- Malaysian Insider
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