Latest twist: Azmin, Azizah not in PAS' list

 

EXCLUSIVE In the latest twist to the menteri besar saga which is bound to further strain ties between the parties in Pakatan Rakyat, PKR revealed that PAS did not include the names of PKR president Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail or her deputy Azmin Ali in the list submitted to the palace.

This was confirmed by several PKR senior leaders.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, one senior leader told Malaysiakini this means that PAS had "played out PKR".

He added that senior PKR leaders would be meeting with their PAS counterparts on the issue soon.

The Islamic party nominated three candidates despite both PKR and DAP agreeing to nominate Wan Azizah only.

Earlier today, PAS secretary-general Mustafa Ali confirmed that the party submitted three names, two from PKR and one from PAS.

However, he declined to reveal the names of the candidates.

This is contradictory to PAS' claim that they respected the consensus among Pakatan parties for the state to be helmed by a PKR candidate.

Three PAS candidates?

The Star Online, meanwhile, reported that PAS had submitted the names of three of its state executive councillors to the palace.

Quoting sources, the report said the three are Selangor PAS chief Iskandar Abdul Samad, Sallehen Mukhyi and Ahmad Yunus Hairi.

However, a senior PAS leader, who declined to be named, told Malaysiakini that the daily's report is untrue.

On Monday, Mustafa told Malaysiakini that PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang's office would send the names to the palace as he needed to sign the letter.

He also refuted a New Straits Times report which claimed that PAS would nominate a third person to replace Khalid.

"No, there is no such thing. We will only submit two names as decided during our meeting on Aug 17," he said.

PAS on Aug 17 announced that it would back both Wan Azizah and Azmin for the menteri besar post after its central committee meeting.

The palace had instructed DAP, PKR and PAS to nominate "more than two" candidates each, and had reportedly reprimanded PKR for only nominating one person in a letter yesterday.

DAP has yet to get a reply to its nomination.

PKR to reply in 48 hours

At a press conference earlier, PKR secretary-general Saifuddin Nasution said that PKR would reply to the palace within the next 48 hours.

Asked on the next course of action, he said the party is "going back to the drawing board" and is looking at all scenarios.

"We discussed (various) scenarios. The first is for PAS to nominate its own assemblyperson.

"The second is that Mustafa said they nominated two from PKR, and one from PAS," Saifuddin said after the political bureau meeting which lasted for about four hours.

"We also discussed possible scenarios from the second case as we don’t know who PAS nominated from PKR.

"We discussed all of that. We are going back to the drawing board," he added.

However, he stressed that all 13 PKR assemblypersons supported Wan Azizah to replace current Menteri Besar Khalid Ibrahim.