By Jeff Ooi,
Months ago, a non-partisan lawyer friend SMS-ed me that if Pakatan Rakyat (PR) didn't rein in Hasan Ali, PAS Commissioner for Selangor who leads the party's representation in the state government, the fledgling coalition will ultimately pay a hefty price in the next general election. Selangor, or even Malaysia, will eclipse and escape PR when push comes to shove.
Of late, there had been more Hasan Ali headlines in the local press, all for the wrong reasons.
From his holier-than-thou stance in fanning the beer-banning self-campaign to his recent unilateral empowering of non-enforcement officers from mosques to nab Muslims for consuming alcohol, and now, openly ordering the dissolution of Selcat (Select Committee for Competency, Accountability and Transparency) that was formed via the very legislative process he took part in and approved at the Selangor Legislative Assembly -- these are indisputable proofs that Hasan Ali belongs philosophically more to Umno than PAS and Pakatan Rakyat combined.
Look. Klang District Officer (DO) Bakhtiar Husin overtly reared his ugly warlordism by accusing Selcat of political opportunism and shaming him in an inquiry into misused state allocations.
Look. Hasan Ali swiftly jumped in to lend his support to Bakhtiar.
Embolden, Bakhtiar and a few other DOs collectively boycotted the state government’s Malaysia Day celebrations last Wednesday.
To put Selcat in context, its recent deliberations involved the ongoing public inquiry into the misuse of state allocations by former Barisan Nasional state assemblymen where a year's annual allocation was used up within weeks ahead of the March 8 general election.
Through the testimonies of five Selangor DOs called up at the Selcat inquiry, it has been established that Barisan Nasional state reps had used up RM500,000 annual state allocations in two months before the March general election last year.
Evidently, in attempts to rid Selangor of corrupt political practices, Hasan had misadventured to protect the corrupt.
It's now a foregone conclusion that Hasan Ali is not a solution but a part of the problem for the PR state government.
Nobody will discount the possibility Hasan will help Umno stage a Perak-like coup d'etat that Najib had openly called for.
Why Hasan must go
Hasan Ali's superficial but over-indulgence in the Islamic State overtures will do nothing to resolve the after-effect of a corruption-ridden government under Khir Toyo, which now continues to fester even the top echelon of the civil service.
Hasan Ali's Islamic overtures, be it a munāfiq posturing or otherwise, has even aroused the anxiety of the investor and the non-Muslim communities. A large cluster of the electorates who voted in PR -- lock, stock and barrel -- to deliver total revamp of BN-styled governance is feeling rudely unsettled. Can PR can't rule the Selangor state, can it do the whole country?
If Hasan Ali thinks he can be made the BN-plus menteri besar by bringing the 8-member PAS representation in the Selangor state assembly to cross-over to join Khir Toyo, he must have had wet dreams. Nobody would ever think local PAS leaders like Saari Sungip shared Hasan's wavelength.
Even PAS vice-president Mahfuz Omar said Hasan should not have kicked up the matter in the open as it was tantamount to attacking the principle of separation of powers enshrined in parliamentary democracy.
Here, we should ask a pertinent question: What and who is Hasan manoeuvring for if not to destroy the new political baseline PR has garnered against BN?
What should DAP and PKR, and even PAS leaders, do when we find ourselves no longer able to condone Hasan's misdemeanour, and we refuse to be associated with him in the coalition?
The options are limited for a runaway train who defies the spirit of Pakatan Team that aspires to wrest Putrajaya in the next general election. Hasan has to be asked to leave Pakatan Rakyat for the larger good.
Hasan Ali is not an asset for PAS nor PR. He is neither a trained ulama, a technocrat, nor a economist. He but camouflages himself as a motivational speaker who rode on the political tsunami of GE2008.
Hasan Ali is not indispensable. He is not even a consequence of Pakatan Victory in Selangor. Talking about political baseline, Hasan Ali only managed to return a meagre 8-seat contingent into the state assembly, whereas PKR delivered 15, and DAP 13.
The 28-seat collateral secured by PKR and DAP combined shouldn't be cowed by a minion that Hasan leads with dissents from within his rank.
A recalcitrant bent on destroying the fledgling PR like him should be sacked if welcome is overstayed.
PAS chief Hadi Awang should rest in comfort that the Gombak Setia seat can be retained if the cancer of Hasan Ali is to be ridden off.
A by-election forced in Gombak Setia willbe the next best thing to appease the angry electorates who colossally supported PR.
Nothing less than that.
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