The six sacked PKR and DAP Selangor executive councillors said today they will go into the office tomorrow and carry out their duties as usual, as their sacking was illegal.They told a press conference tonight that their dismissal by Selangor Menteri Besar Tan Sri Abdul Khalid was not legitimate as he had not received the Selangor Sultan’s consent.
“We do not recognise the sackings. He sent us the letter dismissing us today, saying that the Sultan consented to our sackings, but I believe everyone, including our media friends, saw that Khalid did not leave his office from morning until his 6pm press conference," said DAP’s Datuk Teng Chang Khim.
He added that since the exco members received their dismissal before 6pm, it would have been impossible for Khalid to have met with the sultan beforehand to obtain His Highness's consent.
When asked if it was possible that the Sultan consented to the sackings during his meeting with Khalid at Istana Alam Shah yesterday, Teng ruled this out.
“He said the day before he is going to meet each one of us to see whether we give him the support or not,” he said.
He said this in a press conference at the PKR headquarters tonight, along with DAP members Ean Yong Hian and V. Ganabathi Rao, and PKR’s Elizabeth Wong and Dr Daroyah Alwi.
Rodziah Ismail, also from PKR, is out of the country. The press conference was held following an emergency meeting tonight with the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) national leadership.
PR effectively lost the Selangor government when Khalid sacked all the PKR and DAP councillors today, leaving him and four PAS state executive councillors as the state government.
But Teng said that Khalid, who is an independent assemblyman since his expulsion from PKR Saturday, could not dismiss any Pakatan Rakyat (PR) member from the Selangor government.
“The Selangor government is held by PR. As a sacked member of PKR, he has no legitimacy to sack a PR member,” said Teng, who is in charge of Local Government, Research and Development.
“This has never happened in any democracy in the world, and he has now set a new record.”
Wong urged the four remaining PAS councillors not to attend tomorrow’s exco meeting, in solidarity with PR.
“Effectively, it’s a strange thing. We have been illegally sacked from the government of the day. We urge our colleagues from PAS not to attend tomorrow’s meeting,” said the Bukit Lanjan assemblyman.
Wong, who is in charge of Tourism, Consumer Affairs and Environment, added that while they would not attempt to attend tomorrow’s meeting, they would remain in their own offices in the state secretariat building and continue doing their work.
Earlier in the day, the six executive councillors from DAP and PKR took the position that any decisions made at the state cabinet meetings would have to go through a voting process.
The six signed a statement which said Khalid and his state cabinet's function was limited to transition capacity.
Khalid was sacked last Saturday after he refused to resign as directed by his party, to pave the way for Kajang assemblyman and PKR president Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail to take over the MB's post.
Khalid has been facing mounting pressure from the PKR leadership to resign over his handling of Selangor affairs.
These include the state’s management of its water resources, the Kidex highway and seizure of Bahasa Malaysia and Iban-language Bibles by the Selangor Islamic Religious Department (Jais).
Yesterday, Khalid told the press that the Sultan had consented for him to remain as MB as he commanded the confidence of the majority.
However, Khalid said he would work with the four PAS exco members, the minimum required under the constitution to administer the government.
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