Anwar has locked himself into a paradox

Khalid remained convinced his replacement can be anyone except Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail (the nepotistic wife) or Azmin Ali (the blind royalist), PKR president and deputy president, respectively.

Azmi Anshar, NST

THE diabolically messy Selangor menteri besar power wrangle has arrived at devilish crossroads, a flashpoint of fear, uncertainty and doubt that just cannot resolve as to which elected representative can eventually replace Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim without infuriating the palace.

It’s now known that Khalid’s gruelling method to (finally) quit his untenable MB’s job had a causal conviction — his replacement can be anyone except Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail or Azmin Ali, PKR president and deputy president, respectively.

Khalid remained convinced, an attitude shared by his Pas backers, that Dr Wan Azizah and Azmin, while arguably equipped in savvy political/leadership horse sense, are severely compromised by Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s dodgy baggage — she as the nepotistic wife, while he as the blind loyalist.

That’s why Khalid remained pugnacious to the last, conscientiously repelling his PKR bosses’ boorish attempt to replace him through the feckless “Kajang Move”, mooted initially as the grand design to “save Selangor”, but exposed as a conspiracy to inject steroids into Anwar’s crumbling bid to become prime minister.

Construing correctly the plot, Khalid negotiated an intricate exit strategy that would be endorsed by the sultan of Selangor, while preserving the RM3.2 billion state coffers that, without someone like Khalid to oversee, would whittle away recklessly in record time.

Despite being outed as outlandish power grabbers, Anwar and his ilk remain unrepentant, mulishly maintaining that Dr Wan Azizah is the sole MB nominee but competing against a top-contending Azmin, which belligerently defies the sultan of Selangor’s demands for more nominees.

Reports abound that the sultan of Selangor is disturbed by PKR/DAP’s letter seeking His Highness’ discretion in accepting a sole nominee in Dr Wan Azizah, following the precedent set last year, when Khalid was the sole candidate for the MB’s post after the 13th General Election, a setting Khalid has denied.

Clearly, the sultan of Selangor has seen through the PKR/DAP manoeuvring, in which he will not be brazenly pushed into an ultimatum that stops him from considering alternative nominees.

In this instance, the likes of Ijok assemblyman Dr Idris Ahmad, 67, scion of PKR and a successful gynaecologist who has delivered the babies of Kuala Lumpur’s movers and shakers, and Cempaka assemblyman Iskandar Abdul Samad, Pas’ 47-year-old outsider, are plausible pretenders to the position.

You’d expect the sultan to prevail in this confrontation, backed by convention and the constitution, but given PKR/DAP’s tendency to overreact obstinately if they don’t get their way, whoever is anointed by His Highness is expected to serve in choppy waters.

Nevertheless, the snap state polls to resolve the leadership catastrophe dreaded by virtually everyone will be averted if the sultan’s choice of nominee for the MB’s post is accepted by the warring parties.

Once the complex permutations on who gets to finally replace Khalid are finally sorted out, Khalid must be owed a huge apology by harsh critics, who have underhandedly accused him of trying to cling to power.

If there ever was a power-hungry embodiment of this nine-month pickle, it is Anwar, to whom it can be traced the origins of this silly MB crisis.

However, at the rate that the realpolitik is playing out, the biggest loser will be Anwar, an outcome not unwelcome by Pas or even DAP, who never condoned Anwar, but only sucked up to him because he is the only player able to glue the fractious axis.

Anwar’s mad and fixated ambition to be prime minister is the troubling political narrative undistracted by the tragedies of our times, but tell that to Anwar, who will reverse in recoil position until he schemes the next gambit.

He may not realise this yet, but Anwar has locked himself into a classic paradox: because of him, the axis secured strong gains in the 12th and 13th General Elections, but because of him, the majority of parliamentary voters won’t give him the Federal Government and the coveted federal premiership.