Khalid the Trojan who broke up PR? Selangor Umno admits they have been 'preparing' for snap polls

KUALA LUMPUR - Pakatan Rakyat's (PR) inability to decide who should be Selangor mentri besar may well work in favour of their rivals in Umno and Barisan Nasional (BN), who now believe that they have a fighting chance of winning back the state should snap elections be held.

Selangor opposition leader Datuk Shamsudin Lias said it is evident that a rift is growing between PAS and their PR allies, following Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang's public support of Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim to stay on as state mentri besar, despite ongoing attempts by PKR and DAP to unseat him.

Factions have also emerged within PAS, with the party’s powerful Ulama council backing Hadi in the imbroglio and calling on other members to follow suit.

"There are many scenarios, one of which is to hold fresh elections in Selangor. If this happens, this will be a golden opportunity for Umno and BN.

"We are ready, we have been preparing for this...this problem (MB crisis) has gone on for far too long and affected the state," he told The Malay Mail Online when contacted.

"People in Selangor are fed up," Shamsudin added, saying that most of the current problems in the state are a result of inter-party squabbling between PR parties.

"We (Umno and BN) have not even done much to attack them. How can you run a federal government if you can't even get your state affairs in order?" the Sungai Burong assemblyman said.

Another option, he said, is for the Selangor state assembly to conduct a special emergency sitting to decide on a no-confidence vote against MB Khalid.

"Umno will first assess the situation. We want to see if PKR, DAP will split with PAS if a special sitting is called.

“When the time comes, we will decide where to place our vote or support," the Umno leader explained.

Senior PAS leaders have made it clear that they want Khalid to remain as MB, and will not entertain PKR’s nominee Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail to replace him in the position.

“I have heard all the arguments, and I find that majority of PAS grassroots are in agreement that Khalid Ibrahim should remain as mentri besar,” PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang was quoted as saying in Terengganu on Friday.

But Hadi’s declaration preempts a joint announcement scheduled for Hari Raya when the PR presidential council will say whether it is agreeable to Dr Wan Azizah’s nomination.

The open dissent is set to pit PAS against its PR allies DAP and PKR, who are both reportedly in agreement to remove Khalid, even as ties among the three remain strained by the Islamist party’s ambitions for hudud, the Islamic penal code.

Khalid’s position as mentri besar has remained contentious since his own party initiated the so-called “Kajang Move” to oust him from the position last March.

The move was ostensibly engineered to remove Khalid and to replace him with PKR’s de facto leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, who had intended to contest the Kajang state seat which was vacated in February.

But the “Kajang move” fell through after the appellate court overturned his sodomy acquittal and sentenced him to five years in jail, days before the by-election nomination. Anwar has filed for an appeal against this decision.

Although Anwar’s disqualification had then appeared to put to rest plans to remove Khalid, recent controversies involving the Selangor administration have prompted new agitations for his removal.

Among others, these include the still-unresolved row over the seizure of bibles in the state and Khalid’s perceived partiality towards the developers of the proposed Kinrara-Damansara Expressway (Kidex) that is facing mounting resistance from state residents.

A major barrier to Khalid’s removal was the absence of a clear candidate to replace him, with Dr Wan Azizah previously being touted as the most likely candidate. -Malay Mail