Khalid's resignation deferred

SHAH ALAM: Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim (pix) has submitted his resignation as mentri besar to the Sultan of Selangor, Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah.
According to a statement from the Sultan’s private secretary Datuk Lela Bakti, the Ruler has however deferred accepting his resignation until a new mentri besar is appointed.
“This is to ensure the administration of Selangor continues smoothly and in an orderly fashion,” said Khalid, who read out the statement from the palace at a packed press conference this evening.
The Sultan has also decreed that PAS, PKR and DAP each nominate at least two names from Pakatan Rakyat as candidates for the MB post, Khalid said, adding that this is to ease the process of selecting a candidate the Ruler deems suitable to hold the post.
He said the request is in line with the state’s practice of selecting the mentri besar.
He said he will continue to run the state aided by the four PAS exco members until the new mentri besar is appointed.
The Sultan will set the deadline for the parties to submit their nominations for the post, he added.
Asked if PKR chief Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail was rejected by the Sultan, he said the Sultan merely decreed that each of the parties in Pakatan Rakyat submit at least two names, and it did not mean the Ruler had rejected her.
Khalid stressed the Sultan’s decision had nothing to do with PAS’s reluctance to declare support for Wan Azizah, as her name was not mentioned at all during the audience, which was solely about his resignation.
He added that there is no need to dissolve the state assembly if the intention is merely to force him to vacate his position.
“If the intention is to get rid of me, then the best way for that to happen is for me to resign and not to go on a roundabout way and call for the dissolution of the state assembly,” he said.
Asked if he would accept if Pakatan nominates him to be the mentri besar again, Khalid said he would not as he is happy as he is.
Rumours of a plan to remove Khalid started after the general election last year and culminated in the “Kajang Move” when PKR assemblyman Lee Chin Chen vacated his seat to allow PKR de facto leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim to contest a by-election.
Anwar was ostensibly set to take over as MB upon winning the by-election. But he was replaced by Wan Azizah, who is his wife, after the Court of Appeal overturned a High Court ruling and found him guilty of sodomy.
Wan Azizah subsequently won the March 23 polls.
The crisis deepened when Khalid was sacked by PKR on Aug 9 for refusing to follow party orders to make way for Wan Azizah.
PKR and DAP assemblymen, with the addition of two PAS assemblymen, decided to back Wan Azizah as the next mentri besar, leaving Khalid without majority support in the state assembly and his position as mentri besar untenable.