There’s no more Pakatan in Selangor

With PAS and PKR/DAP taking opposite and irrevocable stands on the Menteri Besar issue, the coalition no longer exists.

COMMENT

PAS has reiterated its stand regarding the removal of Khalid Ibrahim as the Selangor Menteri Besar and his proposed replacement with Wan Azizah Ismail.

PAS wants Khalid retained and will not accept Wan Azizah.

PKR has also reiterated its stand that it wants Wan Azizah to take over as the Selangor MB and that it is not going to propose three names or more as commanded by the Selangor Palace.

Khalid Ibrahim has since revealed the details of his out-of-court settlement with Bank Islam. Hence he has put to rest the allegation that he made a deal with Umno.

In fact, it was he who sued Bank Islam and not the other way around; so it is not to Khalid’s benefit to agree to an out-of-court settlement, especially when his case is stronger than Bank Islam’s.

DAP has not stated its stand but we can assume that DAP will side with PKR.

PKR and DAP are arguing that Khalid must be removed as MB because 30 of the 56 Selangor ADUNs have signed statutory declarations supporting Wan Azizah as the new MB.

But while the 30 ADUNS may officially support Wan Azizah, have they also officially declared their support for Khalid’s removal?

The removal of Khalid cannot be done through statutory declarations, but through a vote of no confidence in the Selangor State Assembly. And until this is done. Khalid is still legally the MB and can act as MB.

Four of the 30 have whispered into the ears of the palace that they regret signing their statutory declarations and if a vote of confidence were to be done by secret ballot they would support Khalid.

This means PKR and DAP no longer have their 30 votes but are down to only 26. And you need at least 29 to oust Khalid.

So all the Sultan needs to do is to call the 30 ADUNs one by one and ask them how they vote. And if just two of the 30 change their votes, then PKR and DAP no longer have the majority they need to oust Khalid.

More important, though, is that PKR, DAP and PAS are not unanimous in their stand and no longer have a consensus. And this means the Sultan no longer needs to consider Pakatan Rakyat’s stand but will have to assess the individual stands of PKR, DAP and PAS.

And if certain ADUNS from any of those three parties break ranks, then the party’s stand also no longer applies. The stand of each of the 56 Selangor ADUNS will need to be considered.

With PAS and PKR taking opposite and irrevocable stands, Pakatan Rakyat no longer exists. Even senior leaders in PAS said today that PAS’s relationship with Pakatan Rakyat needs to be reconsidered.

The Selangor MB crisis is no longer about who should be the MB. It is about whether PAS should remain married with PKR and DAP. And based on the latest development, the marriage has practically come to an end.

Roslan Bistamam is an FMT columnist