To politic or not to politic

It is difficult to believe that Khalid Ibrahim will settle in the nest that others have made for him.

COMMENT

The actors may have forgotten their lines, but the audience remembers.

When Pakatan Rakyat was first swept into power in Selangor, PKR won 15 seats, DAP 13 seats and PAS 8, to total 36 seats in a House of 56.

By virtue of the commanding lead in seats over its coalition partners, PKR received the privilege of putting someone from the party into the MB’s position. The politics of it was simple enough and the horse trading within the coalition quickly ended with a unified position on two PKR nominees to be presented to the Sultan. The Sultan selected Khalid Ibrahim, and the rest is history, as they say.

But it should not be forgotten that that was in 2008. But Saifuddin Nasution’s suggestion of a convention being set in 2013, when the Sultan accepted Khalid as the sole nominee, borders on the disingenuous. One must look at the context of the 2013 acceptance of a sole nominee by the Sultan to recognise that the true convention was that which began for Pakatan in 2008.

When viewed from another perspective, one would recognise that the Sultan was willing to overlook a detail because Khalid was already the MB, and that the Sultan was merely consenting to the extension of tenure for an already proven candidate. Thus discretion was exercised in dispensing with the earlier practice. This is the realistic context in which to view the acceptance of Khalid for a second term as MB in 2013.

Up until the infamous Kajang Move, Khalid was still the golden boy of Pakatan. Though there was gossip about his removal, there were no overt signs yet that a plot was hatching in the back rooms of PKR’s Biro Politik, that is until the resignation of Kajang assemblyman Lee Chin Cheh.

Disparate pieces of the jigsaw puzzle started to coalesce into a raw picture, enough to convince the public that Anwar Ibrahim might be moving into the big house if he cleared the Kajang by-election hurdle. But then came the Appeal Court’s guilty verdict and the substitution of Wan Azizah for Anwar. Even then, Khalid was still amenable enough to head the campaign for Wan Azizah in the Kajang by-election.

But by this time, Khalid must have been aware of the imminency of his own departure. Though not an obviously charismatic politician like Anwar, Khalid nevertheless has the tenacity of a corporate captain with a unique skill set and savvy that compensates for his lack of stage presence.

His sense of being betrayed was palpable, and thus began the ferocious push back when Wan Azizah’s candidacy for his position was announced. The rest is recent history, and what began in late 2013 has yet to be concluded.

Khalid must have realised the futility of carrying on the resistance when PAS withdrew its earlier support for him. Though offering his unconditional resignation to the Sultan last Tuesday afternoon, he has been retained as caretaker MB, and is still in the big house while his detractors are temporarily camping outside.

One could say that even without the stage presence and oratorical panache of die-hard politicians like Anwar, Khalid has proven his mettle as a wily manoeuvrer capable of a feisty defence when cornered. A villain to some but a hero to the rest, it is difficult to believe that Khalid will settle in the nest that others have made for him.

When asked about his plans for the future and if he would join another party, he replied that his immediate concern was to clear his name.

Considering the proceedings that he has begun to challenge his dismissal from PKR, it would be unseemly for him to join another party as that would make his legal suit academic and pointless. His political secretary was also non-committal when asked if Khalid would start his own party.

To politic or not to politic, that is the question.

What is clear is that he has acquired a sizeable following during his six-year tenure as the MB, and that would put him in good stead should he decide to lead a third force in Selangor—not to beat PR or BN outright, but he may yet hold the balance of power in his hands again someday.