Some implications of the Selangor MB saga

The move by PKR to replace Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim (right) as Selangor menteri besar will affect Malaysia on a national level. – The Malaysian Insider file pic, August 12, 2014.

PKR’s move to remove Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim as the menteri besar of Selangor seems to have been going on forever.

But make no mistake, this is not just some personnel change – the drama in Selangor has national consequences and even touches on the kind of country we desire.

The Malaysian Insider looks at some of the issues raised by the saga in Selangor.

1) First in the world

Take a bow, Khalid. You are officially a one-of-a-kind politician. You have been sacked from your political party, are unwanted by two of the three component parties in Pakatan Rakyat, do not seem to enjoy the support of the state exco but yet believe that you should remain as the menteri besar.

The only chaps who are wholeheartedly supporting you belong to  Umno/Barisan Nasional. Surely that is telling.

2) Going overseas, now?

The royals across the country love to say how they have the interests of the rakyat at heart and all that other mushy stuff.

If this is a fact and not some self-serving statement, then the Sultan of Selangor should postpone his trip overseas and ensure that the Selangor crisis is resolved according to the law and in a transparent fashion.

The Malaysian Insider today reported that PKR has 32 signed statutory declarations from state assemblymen who want Khalid removed. That's 32 out of 43 Pakatan Rakyat representatives, a clear majority.

Yesterday, Khalid said he had the backing of the majority. Someone is clearly lying. The law as laid down by the Federal Court clearly states that there is no need to test the fitness of an MB on the state assembly floor and that what is needed is proof that he has lost the support of the majority.

Khalid's assertion in the palace will not do. The Perak royal household is still reeling from the power grab because the public felt that justice and fairness were not served in that sorry episode. There will forever remain an asterisk next to the name of the Perak royal household because of that power grab.

The Sultan of Selangor should do everything to ensure fair play in this crisis. A good starting point is to postpone his overseas trip and find out who really has the support of the assembly.

3) PAS must decide

Whether Khalid stays or finally steps down as MB, the dynamics in Pakatan Rakyat have changed – for good. And that is a good thing.

There have been too many compromises to make this coalition of PKR, DAP and PAS work. Some fundamental differences have been put on the back burner for too long and these have come back to bite PR.

Chief among these differences is the notion of equality. In coalition politics, all parties must have one vote and that vote must have equal strength vis-a-vis other partners.

So if PKR and DAP decide on a course of action, PAS, despite its misgivings, must concede to the majority view. Similarly, if PKR and PAS agree on a seat allocation, then DAP must go along with the majority view.

Unfortunately, the hardliners in PAS, led by party president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang, seem to believe that the Islamist party's vote carries more power. This is akin to the practice in Barisan Nasional where what Umno says, goes.

There is also some queasiness in PAS about women leaders and standing up for the rights of non-Muslims and non-Malays. To be fair, it remains unclear if this is the majority view in PAS or the position of Hadi and other hardliners.

What is clear is that the PAS party elections next year will see a battle royale between the clerics and the professional class for the soul of the party. If Hadi and gang prevail, it is unlikely that Pakatan Rakyat will be a three-party coalition.

This development will be crushing news for Malaysians who want the two-party system to be entrenched. But surely it is preferable that parties with different ideas about right and wrong, race relations and gender acknowledge these yawning gaps and go their separate ways.

4) Leadership

PKR has made a mess of its Kajang Move. Obviously it has not indicated clearly enough the entire saga of the Kajang by-election, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim's purported nomination, followed by his wife Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, and its implications for Khalid and the Selangor PKR.

Or for that matter, its allies in Pakatan Rakyat.

How can its strategy to strengthen the Selangor Pakatan Rakyat government have led to the brewing saga today – a menteri besar sacked from his party and without apparent support from the coalition that put him in office?

PKR keeps saying it is a party that believes in justice and transparency, but its leadership has a funny way of expressing those ideals. The Selangor saga will cost the party in the next general elections.

Because now it has a track record of a party that appears to lurch from crisis to crisis, some apparently self-inflicted. That does not augur well for a party that believes it can do a better job of running the country than its political rivals.

- TMI