Show proof I was bought, Selangor PAS rep dares Hadi - TMI

One of the two PAS Selangor legislators who were accused by Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang of giving in to “brokers and pimps” has challenged the party president to produce evidence that he had been bought to support PKR president Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail for the Selangor mentri besar post.

The Star Online reported today that Saari Sungib, who is Hulu Kelang assemblyman, clarified he signed the statutory declaration (SD) supporting Dr Wan Azizah in order to deny the current Mentri Besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim the chance to cause further damage to the state.

It reported Saari as saying that Khalid claimed he had the majority support, and had started sacking executive council members, without consulting any of the state assemblymen if they supported him.

“The aim was to deny Khalid. However, the lawyers explained that the state assemblymen need to support another candidate in order to legitimise the SD, so we supported Dr Wan Azizah because PKR and DAP had agreed to her nomination,” Saari was quoted as saying by the portal.

He said his only wrongdoing was to help safeguard Pakatan Rakyat’s grip on Selangor, and criticised PAS for allowing its members to revile and insult him without knowing the full story, The Star reported.

Saari took umbrage at the Islamic scholars in PAS allowing a motion to condemn him, which he said constituted punishment before trial.

Even the permanent chairman did not intervene when a delegate prayed for God’s wrath upon him at the PAS Muktamar last week, Saari said in the report.

“This is very shameful to the party,” he was quoted as saying.

Hadi had in his winding-up speech yesterday berated Saari and Hasnul Baharuddin, the PAS assemblyman for Morib, for signing statutory declarations in support of Dr Wan Azizah.

Hadi and the PAS Dewan Ulamak have publicly disagreed with the choice of Dr Wan Azizah to replace Khalid.

With the support of Saari and Hasnul, Dr Wan Azizah has the backing of 30 of the 56 members in the Selangor legislative assembly.

However, the Selangor palace is expected to announce someone else for the appointment of new mentri besar tomorrow, with the swearing-in scheduled for Tuesday. – September 21, 2014.