Swearing-in Of New Selangor MB On Sept 23

SHAH ALAM, Sept 18 (Bernama) -- The Selangor Palace has confirmed that the new Menteri Besar of the state will be sworn in on Tuesday, Sept 23 at the Istana Alam Shah, Klang near here.

The Sultan of Selangor's private secretary, Datuk Mohamad Munir Bani, when contacted by Bernama Thursday, however declined to divulge the name of the new menteri besar.

He said this would only be known on the day of the ceremony.

Bernama understands that Bukit Antarabangsa state assemblyman Mohamad Azmin Ali and Cempaka assemblyman Iskandar Abdul Samad are likely to be made MB, holding the highest administrative post in Selangor.

However, Mohamad Munir refused to confirm this when asked to comment on the matter.

The Sultan had ordered on Aug 26 that the parties within Pakatan Rakyat - DAP, PKR and PAS - submit more than two names each as possible candidates for the new menteri besar post.

His Royal Highness had earlier postponed accepting the resignation of Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim as Menteri Besar until after the process of appointing his successor was completed.

However, both PKR and DAP maintained that they wanted PKR president Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail as the sole candidate for the post.

Their actions angered the Sultan, leading to them make an apology to the palace on the matter but maintaining that they stil wanted Dr Wan Azizah to be the new MB.

The political crisis in Selangor came after the "Kajang Move" started by PKR director of strategy Rafizi Ramli in the Kajang by-election in March, aimed at making Anwar the new menteri besar of Selangor.

However, his hopes were dashed when he failed to gain the Kajang seat when the court declared him guilty of sodomy. Subsequently, his wife who is PKR president contested and won the seat.

On Aug 8, PKR expelled Abdul Khalid from the party with the plan to make Wan Azizah the new menteri besar of Selangor.