By Stephanie Sta Maria - Free Malaysia TodayPETALING JAYA: PKR supreme council member Zaid Ibrahim believes that party de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim should sack the 15 MPs who are allegedly plotting a “Selangor rebellion”.
News broke of an alleged revolt against Menteri Besar Abdul Khalid Ibrahim by a group of 15 MPs aligned to PKR vice-president Azmin Ali, who recently resigned from the board of Selangor State Corporation on Wednesday. Azmin has denied any involvement in the alleged plot.
According to reports, the group is dissatisfied over the unilateral manner in which Khalid appointed his new political secretary, Faekah Hussin, as well as his inability to make quick decisions.
An exasperated Zaid, however, called the move “a blatant show of indiscipline” and criticised the 15 MPs' disrespect for authority.
“This issue of Khalid has been going on for over a year,” he said. “At the recent party congress, (party president) Dr Wan Azizah (Wan Ismail) clearly said that Khalid was not going to be removed and Anwar reaffirmed this statement. Once the top leaders have made a decision, the rest of the leadership are expected to follow suit.”
“It's not just Khalid who is on trial but the the credibility of the whole party leadership. If Anwar and Wan Azizah's words don't carry weight within PKR, then how can it mean anything to the rest of the world?”
Zaid observed that Anwar's leniency has encouraged brazenness among the leaders and called on him to start putting his foot down. He also expressed annoyance over the longstanding argument that a firmer stand would drive people to abandon ship.
“Let them jump!” he said. “Let them join (prime minister) Najib (Tun Razak), enjoy the two-thirds and do whatever they want. But PKR is a reform party that has to stick to certain principles and if that means settling for a small but committed pool of leaders, then so be it.”
Zaid added that he found it odd that the pressure for Khalid's removal came from MPs and not state assemblymen and councillors.
“The assemblymen and councillors know him best... they seem to have no problems with him,” he said. “DAP and PAS have also been silent. They are very seasoned parties and if Khalid is a liability, they would have surely spoken up. They want to win the next election too, you know.”
Stop behaving like Umno
While he is staunchly against Khalid's removal, Zaid advised disgruntled leaders to use the proper channels if they truly wanted him to step down. He outlined two avenues for doing so – through the party election and vying for the presidential position.
“If you want to be the menteri besar, then aim for the number one position in PKR,” he said. “Stop this power play which only drives you to do silly things that make the headlines. Right now, PKR leaders are behaving like Umno by holding secret meetings and then a surprise press conference.”
Zaid also likened PKR to Umno in its belief that the party must control the state government. He said that such a belief belongs to a communist party and PKR should steer clear of such ideology by respecting the institution of the state.
“Selangor is all we've got and our priority should be safeguarding it,” he said. “If we owned two-thirds, we would have the luxury of playing such games.”
“This is the time for PKR to show resilience, strength, unity and respect but these are also things that it needs to earn from the rakyat. We can't dole out projects like Najib does or offer to strike deals with certain people.”
“PKR has nothing to offer but leaders who are credible and who command respect for their sincerity in their struggle. These are the leaders we want. And if we don't have them, then we have nothing.”
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