S'gor PKR reps deny wanting to help Umno topple govt
Published on: Tuesday, September 19, 2017
SHAH ALAM: PKR assemblymen in Selangor have denied claims that eight of them were going to join former menteri besar Muhammad Muhammad Taib in jumping ship to Umno to topple the state government.Six reps contacted by The Malaysian Insight via phone and WhatsApp said they had never heard of such a scheme."Nothing of the sort. Never heard any talk about getting reps to defect before this. It's just a rumour.
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Nobody knows where it came from," Sementa assemblyman Dr Daroyah Alwi said.The Malaysian Insight contacted Selangor Menteri Besar Mohamed Azmin Ali for comment, but the state Pakatan Harapan Chairman and PKR deputy president has not responded.Dr Daroyah slammed Umno for attempting to get Selangor government lawmakers to cross over to its side."Whatever it is, Umno can stop dreaming. Don't think they can buy PKR reps. Our fight is still based on Anwar Ibrahim's struggle ," she said, referring to the jailed PKR de facto leader.
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Sources had told The Malaysian Insight that Muhammad was to have taken eight Pakatan reps with him to Umno. However, the plot fell through following intervention from high-level stakeholders.
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Had it succeeded, the defectors would have helped Barisan Nasional take over the state government by joining 12 Umno assemblymen, 13 PAS reps and independent assemblyman Abdul Khalid Ibrahim to form a bloc of 34 lawmakers.The Selangor assembly has 56 seats. Currently, DAP has 14 seats, PKR (13), PAS (13) and Amanah (two). Apart from BN's 12 seats, another two are held by independents.Another PKR rep, Shuhaimi Shafie, said the allegation was slander meant to cover up Umno's embarrassment at being able to get only Muhammad."I am sure there was no such plot. It is a story twisted on purpose. It is another series of slander aimed at disrupting the state government ," the Sri Muda assemblyman said.Shuhaimi, who is also Azmin's political secretary, said talks of such a plot did not come as a surprise with the general election approaching."Don't be surprised. This will continue until the 14th general election comes."Bukit Lanjan rep Elizabeth Wong said the state government was intact and working as usual, adding no PKR assemblyman would betray the people's trust given to them in the last general election."With the general election nearing, we will face even more stories and slander. But, I have faith in the wisdom of the people in Selangor."Meanwhile, PAS denied knowledge of the alleged attempt.PAS insisted it had nothing to do with alleged attempt."I did not hear anything about it. If there was indeed such a plan, surely PAS leaders would have heard something about it," Roslan Shahir said."As PAS election director, I would have heard about it. The PAS state commissioner Sallehen Mukhyi also knows nothing about it."We have just come back with PAS central leaders from the Hari Malaysia celebration in Sandakan. Nobody knows anything about it," said Roslan, who is also the party deputy information chief.The Selangor government is made up of PKR, DAP and PAS. Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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