THE FINAL COUNTDOWN

However, if Khalid refuses to resign then neither Anwar nor the Sultan can do anything about it. The Sultan cannot sack Khalid. And neither can Anwar. Khalid will have to resign and if he does not want to resign then Anwar will have to launch Plan B.

THE CORRIDORS OF POWER

Raja Petra Kamarudin

PKR’s de facto leader, Anwar Ibrahim, told the party last night that this is more or less final, the last stretch in the marathon race to end Menteri Besar Khalid Ibrahim’s political career.

The meeting was told that Khalid is going to be asked to resign. Azmin Ali will not be taking over Khalid’s job. Instead, Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail will be taking over. It seems a Palace insider, whoever that is, has advised Anwar that His Royal Highness the Sultan would not agree to Azmin taking over as the new Menteri Besar but would not be adverse to Dr Wan Azizah taking over instead.

Anwar knows that the Sultan wants Khalid to serve his full term but PKR cannot agree to this. Anwar will request an audience with the Sultan to inform His Royal Highness that the decision as to who becomes the Menteri Besar is based on the party’s choice and not the Sultan’s choice. The Sultan will also be ‘advised’ that he must respect the peoples’ wishes, which is they want a new Menteri Besar.

As what Dr Abdul Aziz Bari said in his interview today (READ HERE), which is a sort of very clever ‘pre-emptive strike’ against the Sultan, prior to 1959 it was the Sultan who chooses and appoints the Menteri Besar. However, since then it has always been a political decision based on what the political party wants. In other words, the Sultan has no say in the matter.

However, if Khalid refuses to resign then neither Anwar nor the Sultan can do anything about it. The Sultan cannot sack Khalid. And neither can Anwar. Khalid will have to resign and if he does not want to resign then Anwar will have to launch Plan B.

Plan B would be to table a vote of no confidence in the Selangor State Assembly. In fact, this was done before in the case of Harun Idris (the Umno Menteri Besar of Selangor) in 1975 and Muhamed Nasir (the PAS Menteri Besar of Kelantan) in 1978. In the Kelantan case, the PAS state government fell and Umno took the state until 1990 when Nik Aziz Nik Mat and PAS (with the help of Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah and Semangat 46) took back the state and has held it until today.

Dr Aziz is of the opinion that if Khalid remains stubborn then the same thing can happen in Selangor. Pakatan Rakyat can table a vote of no confidence in the Selangor State Assembly. However, they will need at least 29 votes. If DAP supports the vote that would come to 14 (because the Speaker cannot vote unless it is a casting vote). PKR may get 13 votes (because Khalid would certainly not vote against himself). That comes to only 27 votes when they need 29.

Anwar will have to convince at least two of the 15 PAS Assemblymen to support the vote. If PAS does not support the vote (and if Barisan Nasional also does not support the vote) then it would 29 against the vote versus only 27 for.

And that means Khalid will remain as the Menteri Besar.

Will at least two State Assemblymen from PAS support the vote of no confidence? Well, that depends on PAS President Abdul Hadi Awang. If he agrees that Khalid must be ousted then Anwar could even get more than two votes from PAS. If not then it will remain 27 versus 29, unless Anwar can bribe two State Assemblyman from Umno to support the vote. I am sure RM25 million per person or RM50 million for two votes can get Anwar his 29 votes that will make Khalid history.

Okay, let us assume that Anwar gets his 29 votes one way or another and he gets them either from PAS or Umno. Is that the end of the story?

Not quite. Khalid can always meet the Sultan to inform His Royal Highness that a vote of no confidence has been tabled against him and has been passed by the Selangor State Assembly with a majority vote and request that the Selangor State Assembly be dissolved and for new state elections to be held. Then the ‘Kajang Move’ would be upgraded to the ‘Selangor Move’.

By the way, where is Rafizi Ramli? Why is there a deafening silence from Rafizi Ramli? Is it true that Anwar is pissed with him big-time and he is no longer the chief political strategist of PKR?