Khalid Avoids Straight Answer On Candidate For Selangor Menteri Besar

Selangor deputy PAS Commissioner III Khalid Abdul Samad avoided a direct answer when asked whether a PAS candidate will fill the post of Selangor Menteri Besar.

PAS has emerged as the front runner after winning 15 state seats, one more than Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) who took 14 seats while DAP, despite winning 15 seats, the same as PAS, have no eligible candidate to fill the post.

He said all three parties, PAS, DAP and PKR did equally well in the just concluded 13th General Election, especially in Selangor.

"PAS has emerged stronger in Selangor after winning 15 seats compared with just 8 in the 2008 general election, but we are all equally strong," Khalid told reporters in the presence of PKR vice president Azmin Ali, Selangor PAS Commissioner Dr Rani Osman and deputy secretary of Selangor DAP Ng Suee Lim.

A non-Malay DAP candidate cannot be appointed to the post of menteri besar in Selangor as the state constitution requires a menteri besar candidate to be a Malay whose religion is Islam.

Since no Malay candidates from DAP won in Selangor, the menteri besar's post will now be a toss between PAS and PKR and the fact that the Pakatan Rakyat has delayed announcing current menteri besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim as the person who will continue to hold the post, is an indication that there could be a change.

Khalid blamed Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) and a PAS candidate for PKR's failure to defend the Semenyih and Kota Damansara state seats although both the seats were won by PSM in 2008 who had used the PKR logo.

He said the lost of the two seats had resulted in PKR failing to gain the upper hand in Selangor and stake a claim to administer the state over PAS.

"There was a split of votes in Semenyih between PSM and PKR candidates, resulting in the Barisan Nasional (BN) winning the seat. In Kota Damansara, we had directed PAS candidate Ridzuan Ismail to withdraw but he snubbed our directive and went on to contest, so there was a split in votes between PAS and PKR, not to mention the three independent candidates.

"It is a lesson for him (Ridzuan) to be not big headed. No one can win an election individually and betray the trust of the people. We will submit a report and wait for the PAS leadership to decide on action to be taken," he said.

In Semenyih, Datuk Johan Abd Aziz from Barisan Nasional (BN) won by a 4,145-vote majority while in Kota Damansara, BN's Halimaton Saadiah Bohan won by 1,527 votes.

Rani who was also present at the press conference however, chose to remain silent on the matter although a Malay daily had quoted him as saying that Selangor PAS had submitted its candidate for the post of Menteri Besar and exco members to the PAS headquarters.

On Monday, former Selangor PAS Commissioner Datuk Dr Hasan Mohamed Ali had said PAS need to be given the opportunity to lead the state since the party had managed to do better than in 2008.