Sultan was right to retain Khalid as MB, say lawyers

The entrance to Istana Alam Shah in Klang, Selangor, where Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim informed the Selangor Sultan that he still commanded majority support in the Selangor state assembly. – The Malaysian Insider pic, August 12, 2014.

The Sultan of Selangor had acted in accordance with the law and constitution when he consented to Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim remaining as Selangor Menteri Besar, say constitutional lawyers.

The state ruler made the decision yesterday after Khalid said he still retained the confidence of the majority of the 56 lawmakers in the state legislative assembly.

Pakatan Rakyat (PR) now controls 43 seats with Barisan Nasional (BN) 12 and Khalid as the sole independent lawmaker after his sacking from PKR.

"The Sultan was not given any proof that Khalid had lost the confidence of the majority of assemblymen. As such, what the Sultan did was right,"  lawyer R. Kengadharan (pic, left) told The Malaysian Insider.

He said the ruler could not ask Khalid to tender his resignation or dismiss him from office unless he was convinced that his MB had lost the support of the assemblymen.

Kengadharan said it could still be doubted whether Khalid commanded the confidence of the majority if the recent statements by leaders from PAS, DAP and PKR were used as a yardstick.

"The PAS secretary-general (Datuk Mustapa Ali) said the party will remain in Pakatan after Khalid was sacked as member from PKR," he said.

Lawyer Nizam Bashir said the government would function if it was true that four PAS exco members were with him.

However, he said from the legal stand point, nothing much would happen as the sultan would be overseas from Wednesday to August 23.

"This period will only give the political parties and leaders time to assess their positions," he added.

Lawyer Andrew Khoo (pic, right) said PR must have a sense of urgency to show that Khalid no longer enjoyed the confidence of the majority.

"A better option will be taking a vote of no-confidence in the house," he said, adding that there could be a problem because the next assembly session was in October or November.

Lawyer Syahredzan Johan said yesterday's development indicated that there was not going to be a change in leadership anytime soon.

"PKR and DAP need to first establish if PAS is going the other way round or if the three parties were united in removing Khalid," he said.

He said PAS needs to bring forward its central working committee meeting scheduled on August 17 to instil confidence among the people in Selangor that the coalition was intact.

Syahredzan (pic, left) said it would reflect very badly on PAS and its assemblymen for supporting Khalid who was sacked from a party in the PR coalition.

He said the PR leadership should obtain a letter of support for its MB-designate (Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail) and present it to the ruler as soon as possible, or find a way to bring a vote of no-confidence against Khalid to the state assembly.

Earlier, retired Federal Cout judge Datuk Seri Gopal Sri Ram said the Selangor government was still intact as long as Khalid and his exco were not dismissed by the sultan.

He said Khalid could go to the state assembly to test whether he commands the confidence of the majority.

Alternatively, PR could send a letter to the palace to show that the majority of the assemblymen in Selangor supported another candidate to be appointed as MB.

Khalid was sacked from PKR on August 9 after he refused to resign as directed by his party, to pave the way for its president Dr Wan Azizah.

Khalid has also been facing mounting pressure from the PKR leadership to resign over his handling of Selangor affairs.

These include the state’s management of its water resources, the Kidex highway and seizure of Malay and Iban-language Bibles by the Selangor Islamic Religious Department (Jais).

- TMI