2014 a political crisis year for Selangor
Published on: Saturday, December 20, 2014
SHAH ALAM: The year 2014 witnessed a leadership crisis in Selangor which ended with the forced resignation of Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim from the Menteri Besar's (MB) post, and he was subsequently replaced by his political rival, Mohamed Azmin Ali. Abdul Khalid, who had led the state since March 13 2008, saw his reputation being marred by his own party, the Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR), beginning with the 'Kajang Move'. The internal tussle in PKR brought about Abdul Khalid's sacking from the party on Aug 9 after disagreeing with the party's central leadership council's decision to nominate Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail as the new MB.
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Abdul Khalid then faced much pressure from the party to explain issues pertaining to the Menteri Besar's new allowances, the increase in business license tax, his loan from Bank Islam and the proposal to build the Kinrara-Damansara Expressway (Kidex). Feeling the pressure, Abdul Khalid, who is also Port Klang state assemblyman, decided to call it quits but his decision was stalled when the Sultan of Selangor, Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah postponed his resignation until a successor was determined. The internal commotion in PKR then turned into a virus and caused a friction among the opposition pact comprising PKR, PAS and the DAP when four executive council members of the state government from PAS were called traitors by DAP. This was because the four remained with Abdul Khalid in running the state's affairs when the other six members from DAP and PKR had already resigned.
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Palace officials were also brought into the mix and Sultan Sharafuddin ordered each party to nominate at least two candidates for the sultan's consideration.PKR and DAP, however remained defiant when they insisted on naming only Dr Wan Azizah as the sole nominee for the post.
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PAS on the other hand, accepted the decree and sent three names, but Dr Wan Azizah's name was not in the list.PKR and DAP's stubbornness caused grief to the Sultan and the crisis, according to him, had opened his eyes, heart and views on the political situation in Selangor. Even during the crisis, Abdul Khalid was committed to his final duties as MB and on Sept 12, the federal government and State government signed the master agreement to finalise the restructuring of the state's water supply industry.Through the agreement, a new entity, Air Selangor Sdn Bhd took over the operations and maintenance of water treatment plants as well as water supplying services, which were previously run by four concessionaires.The guessing game on who would replace Abdul Khalid in the State's highest office ended at last after Bukit Antarabangsa State-assemblyman Mohamed Azmin Ali took oath as Selangor's 15th MB on Sept 23.As soon as he was appointed, Mohamed Azmin was seen to take on a popular approach especially in tackling issues pertaining to roads and rubbish, even revealing his own mobile number so that locals could send him messages whenever they saw there was uncollected rubbish. After leaving the post, Abdul Khalid was attacked by several parties claiming that the RM2.6 million pay out to eight of his aides in the Menteri Besar Selangor Incorporation (MBI) was not done according to procedures. As the situation was easing down after Mohamed Azmin was appointed as MB, citizens of Selangor received another shock when Sultan Sharafuddin stripped PKR leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim off the award which carries the title 'Datuk Seri', beginning Nov 3.The sultan's private secretary, Datuk Mohamad Munir Bani in a statement revealed that the Seri-Sultan Salahuddin Abdul Aziz Shah (S.S.S.A) award which was conferred upon Anwar in 1992, was revoked due to Anwar's repeated questioning of the integrity of the Selangor Sultan and royal institution in resolving the Selangor MB crisis. Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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