More ‘Ketuanan Rakyat’ cracks: Infighting is imminent

It seems that more ‘Ketuanan Rakyat’ cracks are surfacing, between these strange bedfellows. This time, it is within the same party. PKR Vice President Azmin Ali is asking Menteri Besar Selangor Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim to reshuffle the State Government Exco. In short, he telling the MB Selangor that he and his State Exco is not effective and no longer meet the expectation of the majority.

The Star has the story:

Published: Thursday July 9, 2009 MYT 6:55:00 PM

Azmin calls for reshuffle of Selangor state exco

By WANI MUTHIAH

SHAH ALAM: Bukit Antarabangsa assemblyman Azmin Ali shocked the Selangor legislative assembly Thursday by calling for a reshuffle of the exco members.

“Maybe its time for the Mentri Besar to consider an exco reshuffle for the people to be served better,” he said.

Later in the evening after the proceedings ended, Azmin told a press conference he had put forward the suggestion to Mentri Besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim due to the many complaints he had received from the people.

“I suggested to the Mentri Besar to reexamine the performance of the exco members as they play important roles in realising the states policies,” he said.

Azmin said there were several inadequacies in the manner certain things were carried out in the state.

“An example would be the appointment of local council councilors recently which should have been done in a better way given that the Selangor government emphasises on good governance, democracy, human rights and rule of law,” he said.

Azmin also said he had received many complaints from key business figures in the state that there was a lot of bureaucracy when it came to gaining approvals for commercial purposes.

He added the Selangor State Economic Council (MTES) had taken a prejudicial stance by investigating and punishing instead of facilitating the business.

He said MTES must not behave like a court of law but instead forge closer ties with the business community to ensure that the state enjoyed better economic growth.

“The revenue for the state (currently) is not what we had expected,” he said adding that an example would be the expected revenue from the sale of sand and minerals was nowhere near what Khalid had projected.

He added if an exco member could not perform based on these principles there was no point in them continuing.

He said that if his suggestion was accepted, the appointment of exco members must not be based on their party or race but their ability to carry out their work efficiently.

Meanwhile, when asked if Azmin had behaved like an opposition member rather than a Pakatan Rakyat member with his outburst, Khalid said this was the special facet of the coalition.

“Pakatan Rakyat allows for the differences in opinion and issues,” he said adding that Azmin had voiced the grievances of his constituents.

“We must now review ourselves and find out how best we can serve the people better,” he said.

Khalid said he and his exco members worked very closely together and effort must be put in to further strengthen teamwork.

DAP’s Ronnie Liew and Teresa Kok were the excos in charge of the state’s local council and investment respectively.

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Depsite this outright criticism is regarded a ‘shock’ by the media, it actually not shocking. Azmin’s stance of being critical to the Selangor administration has an ulterior motive. However, professionally it is not that apparent. However, reading it between the lines show it all.

This is how The Star reported the criticism:

Friday July 10, 2009

Azmin Ali shocks Selangor assembly with suggestion

SHAH ALAM: Bukit Antarabangsa assemblyman Azmin Ali has called for a reshuffle of the state executive council because of complaints of them being bureaucratic.

He said he had received many complaints from key business figures in the state who said there was a lot of bureaucracy when it came to gaining approvals for commercial purposes.

“Maybe it’s time for the Mentri Besar to consider an exco reshuffle for the people to be served better,” he said at the Selangor State Assembly yesterday.

Azmin told a press conference later that he had put forward the suggestion to Mentri Besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim due to the complaints he had received from the people.

He said the Selangor State Economic Council had taken a “prejudicial stance by investigating and punishing” instead of facilitating businesses.

“The council must not behave like a court of law but instead forge closer ties with the business community to ensure that the state enjoyed better economic growth.

“The revenue for the state is not what we had expected,” he said.

He added that the expected revenue from the sale of sand and minerals was nowhere near what Khalid had projected.

Azmin said in the event his suggestions were accepted, the appointment of the exco members must not be based on which party or race they represented but their ability to carry out their work efficiently.

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This open criticism only illustrate there exist an ‘infighting’ within the PKR top echelon, especially with regards to the Selangor Pakatan Rakyat strange bedfellows government. It is widely known that Azmin himself was an aspirant and actively vying for the Selangor Chief Executive post upon the surprise success of the 8 March 2009 12th General Elections. However, PKR Adviser party-less Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim then decided that ADUN Ijok Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim be made to the top position. Of course, the convenient excuse of Khalid was a much respected corporate leader for the job of the most wealthiest state in country superceeded the usual party hierrachy practices.

It is believed that despite Azmin’s close “personal relationship” with former accused-sodomist Anwar Ibrahim, latter’s wife PKR President Wan Azizah Wan Ismail was very envious of the relationship. Of course, Anwar had to offer the top post to Khalid, who was actually Wan Azizah’s choice for the CEO seat of the wealthiest state in the Federation of Malaysia. This is because Wan Azizah has still unresolved issues on Anwar’s “personal relationship” with Azmin and previous “association” with Azmin’s wife, Shamsidar Tahar.

Sources within strongly believed on how Azmin was ‘playing the master mind’ role on the ADUN Bukit Lanjan Elizabeth Wong’s personal problem, which drew nationwide attention. Wong was said to be personally close to Khalid and a sex scandal of such nature was thought to be the ‘push factor’ for the reshuffling of the Selangor State Exco, which include the MB. There are some who were willing bet that the sex scandal would led to the resignation of Wong and eventually Khalid. Azmin was aspiring ascend as a replacement. However, despite Khalid stating otherwise power-of-abuse-convict Anwar decided to hold status quo and Wong was back as the Exco in charge tourism, consumer affairs and environment.

Azmin’s gambit had failed.

It is expected more to come. Soon, this is ‘infighting’ will be contageous to the other Ketuanan Rakyat partners within Selangor. The Kedah problem will soon escalate to Selangor. That is when unexpectedly strange bedfellows ‘unwillingly’ get married, because of common obejctive to topple the Barisan Nasional Government was met in a fluke attempt. It was never about serving the people or interest of the state.