'No reason to remove Selangor MB'

Political observers have disagreed with political blogger Raja Petra Kamaruddin's recent call for Anwar Ibrahim to make a choice between keeping Khalid Ibrahim on as Selangor Menteri Besar and saving Selangor.

Raja Petra made the call on his blog earlier this week following Kapar MP S Manickavasagam's allegation of corruption in Kumpulan Semesta, a Selangor-owned sand mining company.

According to him, “keeping Khalid around means Selangor is doomed... if Khalid stays, then that is the end for the Pakatan Rakyat government of Selangor”.

Both Professor James Chin and Wong Chin Huat strongly disagreed with the latter saying that Khalid hasn't made any grave mistakes that would warrant his removal.

While acknowledging that Khalid isn't the ideal leader, Wong also argued that his government hasn't failed miserably.

“Removal of a leader should only be done during an election and based on his performance and competence,” he said. “These are the democratic rules that people should follow. It is unacceptable for political power to be decided upon by a supreme leader or behind-the-scene negotiations instead of a transparent process.”

Wong also challenged the justification of removing Khalid based on his unpopularity.

“If this is their reason, then my question is, what structure is being put in place to ensure the popularity of his successor? And who among the current PKR leaders are guaranteed to win that measure of popularity? Remember that PKR is a party with factions that will go out of their way to destroy it just to settle their own score.”

Chin, meanwhile, doubted that Pakatan would take a tumble anytime this year but predicted that it may likely fall in the next general election. He added that should that happen, Pakatan would not have another chance at victory for the next decade.

However, he said that there was another even more interesting question: “Why is RPK suddenly attacking Khalid whom he had once strongly supported?”

“RPK backed Khalid even when he wasn't Selangor's first choice. And now he is suddenly pushing for Khalid's removal. This is very intriguing.”

Written by Stephanie Sta Maria, Free Malaysia Today