Consensus to lift the MB crisis

Following the decisions of Pakatan Rakyat's (PR) leadership council and PAS's central committee meetings, the Selangor menteri besar crisis has been lifted and the coalition has avoided a collapse.

The PAS central committee meeting had unanimously reached three resolutions. Overall, it made some concessions to allow the survival of PR.

PAS's first decision was to stay in PR, showing that it will not withdraw from the coalition because of the Selangor MB crisis.

The central committee's decision has also indirectly overthrown the earlier stand of the party's Ulama wing, party spiritual leader Datuk Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat and president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang.

It showed that to achieve a consensus within PR, PAS decided to give up incumbent MB Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim and thus, lifted part of the crisis. It is also a victory for the party's liberal faction.

The central committee also nominated two names, namely PKR president Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail and her deputy Azmin Ali as the candidates for the new MB to replace Khalid, showing that the party is still holding back. Meanwhile, PKR and DAP had made it clear that Dr Wan Azizah is their sole candidate for the post.

However, Azmin later expressed his support for Dr Wan Azizah to avoid a split and make PAS accept her as the only candidate.

Now, without PAS's resistance, PR may start the process of replacing the MB.

PR may present the decision of replacing Khalid with Dr Wan Azizah, who has obtained support from the majority of state assemblymen to be the Selangor MB, to seek the Sultan's consent. Or, the current four state executive councillors from PAS may quit to make Khalid step down. Otherwise, they can wait for the state assembly session in November to table a no-confidence motion against Khalid.

Any of the approaches will be enough to remove Khalid.

The remaining question is, whether the Sultan will consent Dr Wan Azizah to take over the post.

If PR nominates only one candidate, it can take the initiative to seek the Sultan's consent. However, if there are more than one name, it would depend on the Sultan and the person might not be Dr Wan Azizah, who is preferred by the PKR and DAP.

In other words, if the Sultan does not consent Dr Wan Azizah to replace Khalid, Azmin would then have the highest chance, which is also in line with PAS's wishes.

By then, if PKR and DAP still insist on Dr Wan Azizah as the MB, it would lead to another crisis, and it would be very difficult to get PAS's cooperation.
PAS's conservatives have given up Khalid after losing face and prestige, it might not be easy to ask them to make another concession.

The Kajang by-election was staged with two goals, namely to remove Khalid and replace him with party adviser Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim. When Anwar faced difficulties due to his sodomy case, Dr Wan Azizah became the sole candidate.

So far, Anwar can achieve his goals just a step away and seeking the Sultan's consent might be the biggest challenge, with a result that can hardly be predicted. – Sin Chew Daily