KHALID CORNERED, ANWAR BRACES FOR SNAP POLL

Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim is now cornered – checkmated by Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) leaders with a showcause letter for going against the party decision for not stepping down as Mentri Besar which he has to reply by Friday.

Khalid now has no reason convincing enough to ‘stay his course’ as his Mentri Besar post is the prerogative of the party and not following party decision is considered as gross misconduct which can even lead to expulsion from the party.

In short, the game is nearly over and Khalid can do only one thing – dissolve the state assembly and seek fresh election – or face expulsion and seek a fresh mandate through the state assembly as an Independent candidate for the Mentri Besar position.

If Khalid takes the first action, then Pakatan Rakyat (PR) and PKR in particular may probably has to say ‘goodbye’ to Selangor despite the state Barisan Nasional (BN) having no people of calibre to become Mentri Besar.

The Selangor electorates have been restless and angry with the PR state government for the current feud that they see have not benefited them and they are left with so many problems.
Among the main problems are the water crisis which the electorates are bracing for rationing despite assurances from the state government, hike in business licences, and Kinrara-Damansara Expressway (Kidex).

So if Khalid decides to dissolve the state assembly, then the result is probably clear as expected by many analysts.

If Khalid takes the second option, then he would seek an audience with the Sultan of Selangor, present to the sultan that he is now an Independent assemblyman and would call for an emergency sitting of the assembly to seek fresh mandate.

In this case, the scenario where the assembly has 56 seats, Khalid may get the votes of BN and all PAS assemblymen totalling to 27 (BN – 12 seats, PAS 15 seats).

Against him will be DAP’s 15 assemblymen and PKR’s 14, the latter which Anwar would probably miscalculate.

Several of PKR’s 14 assemblymen had written pledges to vote for Khalid in the event of a vote for Khalid to stay which will see Khalid passing through with a simple majority.

After all, he needs just two more seats for a simple majority.
However, it is very unlikely the Sultan would agree with the second option and the Ruler may want a fresh mandate through a state election.


Both ways, Anwar will see that his Kajang Move is a failure and electorates’ trust on him will erode further as even now they see as Anwar seeking to position his spouse as his priority rather than to manage the state properly.

At first it was only the party deputy president Azmin Ali wanting Khalid’s post and he had started the ‘political chess game’ which Khalid easily shove aside like ‘fanning away a fly’.

As the feud between the two worsen, the party de facto chief Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim stepped in to help Azmin, and thus began the so-called Kajang Move – mission is to replace Khalid with him, not Azmin.

However, when he was convicted and he was not eligible to contest the Kajang state seat, Anwar replaced it with his wife who is the party president Datin Seri Wan Azizah Ismail.
After Waz Azizah won the seat, the real political game began with Anwar wanting his wife who is the new assemblyman to replace Khalid.
Khalid stood his ground and the battle got intense as Anwar began his assault to get Khalid to step down.

When all attempts failed, the party leadership has resorted to the last action – show cause letter and expel – which is within the party’s right and Khalid cannot challenge the expulsion in any court of law.