DAP says backs Khalid as Selangor MB

Khalid had led Selangor PR to a “resounding win” in Election 2013, said Lim. — File picKUALA LUMPUR, May 8 — The DAP endorsed Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim today as Selangor mentri besar as state Pakatan Rakyat (PR) leaders remained silent on who will be the new state leader.

PKR won 14 state seats in Selangor — the least compared to the DAP and PAS that won 15 seats each in Election 2013.

“Tan Sri Khalid should continue as mentri besar after leading PR to a resounding victory at the recent general elections by winning a two-thirds majority with 44 out of 56 state seats in Selangor from the previous 36 seats,” DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng said in a statement today.

“Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim should be recognised for his integrity and stewardship of Selangor. This had enabled PR to beat back a determined effort by Barisan Nasional (BN) led by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak himself to win back Selangor,” he added. English language daily The Star reported today that PKR deputy president Azmin Ali is gunning for the top post in the country’s wealthiest state.

PAS has also reportedly put forth Selangor PAS commissioner Dr Abdul Rani Othman and former state exco member Iskandar Abdul Samad as candidates for the mentri besar post.

The Islamist party’s secretary-general Datuk Mustafa Ali, however, was quoted by The Star as saying it had no issue with Khalid.

Despite Najib heading BN’s election campaign in Selangor in the 13th general election, PR blazed to victory by snagging eight more state seats in Malaysia’s most developed state than it did Election 2008.

DAP publicity chief Tony Pua said last Monday that PR’s “thumping” victory in Selangor showed a significant increase in Malay support that allowed the pact to increase its seat numbers in the state’s semi-rural belt.

It was here that BN had concentrated much of its machinery during the polls, acknowledging that the urban seats of Selangor and those with a high percentage of Chinese voters would be difficult to win over.

PAS, however, won the Malay-majority seats of Sabak, Morib, Paya Jeras, Dusun Tua, Tanjung Sepat and Taman Templar in Sunday’s polls.

Pua has also pointed out that increased Malay and Indian backing had enabled the DAP to capture Kuala Kubu Bari and Sungai Pelek, two state seats it lost in Election 2008 that boast a sizeable Malay and Indian population at 33 per cent and 21 per cent, and 45 per cent and 21 per cent, respectively.