PKR’s Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim will remain as Selangor mentri besar as he has been endorsed by the DAP and PAS, the two Pakatan Rakyat (PR) parties that form the majority in the state assembly, a source said today.
A senior PR leader, who did not want to be named, said PKR, the DAP and PAS have agreed on Khalid (picture) leading the country’s wealthiest state after the pact’s stellar performance in Selangor in Election 2013.
“Khalid won us two-thirds majority,” the PR leader told.
“His street credentials are impeccable. You can’t remove him,” he added.
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Despite a fierce Barisan Nasional (BN) onslaught led by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak to recapture Selangor, PKR won 14 state seats, while the DAP and PAS won 15 seats each, for a total of 44 seats in the 56-seat assembly.
PKR deputy president Azmin Ali was said to be eyeing the mentri besar’s post amid state PR leaders’ silence on who would fill the position.
Azmin was quoted by Malay daily Sinar Harian today as saying that he resolved to “save PKR from nepotism”.
“Based on the people’s impressive mandate that was given to us in Selangor, I want to make sure that the MB is someone who cannot be swayed easily or be influenced by interested parties,” said Azmin.
He stressed, however, that he would not leave PKR if Khalid was reappointed mentri besar.
PAS central working committee member Khalid Samad noted that Khalid Ibrahim was favoured by the DAP and PAS.
“He has backing from DAP and PAS,” the Shah Alam MP told The Malaysian Insider today.
Khalid Ibrahim’s press secretary Arfa’eza Abdul Aziz told The Malaysian Insider that the date of the mentri besar’s official swearing-in ceremony has yet to be fixed.
