In Selangor, a looming battle for power.The Selangor government under Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim is besieged by talks of crossover & state election? ]

In Selangor, a looming battle for power

By Neville Spykerman

The Selangor government under Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim is besieged by talks of crossovers and defections. — Picture by Jack Ooi

SHAH ALAM, Aug 21 — The growing speculation among political circles here of impending crossovers and the imminent collapse of the Selangor government is being dismissed by Pakatan Rakyat (PR) officials here as part of what they claim are Barisan Nasional’s (BN) attempts to destabilise the state administration.

PR sources appear to confirm that the alliance of PAS, PKR and DAP suspect BN may have already secured the defection of as many as three PR state lawmakers from PAS and two from PKR.

But one source told The Malaysian Insider today that the number of possible defections so far is inadequate for any attempt to topple the state government.

However, he said even a single crossover may be enough to destabilise the state government by causing mistrust among the PR component parties.

“I feel BN true intention is to distract the state government from its main task of administrating Selangor,” he said.

So far, PR officials say, Mentri Besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim still holds the option of calling snap elections.

Another PR political analyst said Khalid’s administration is banking on the belief that BN was not prepared to go toe-to-toe in a state election.

Speculation of a BN move to topple the state government has been fuelled by the existence of a letter purportedly written by unnamed anti-graft officers which is being investigated by the authorities.

The letter, which was sent to Gobind Singh Deo, the lawyer for the family of political aide Teoh Beng Hock, suggests a conspiracy hatched by state opposition leader Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Khir Toyo and a senior Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) officer to topple Khalid’s government.

Dr Mohd Khir has dismissed the allegation.

An anonymous letter to lawyer Gobind Singh Deo alleges a conspiracy by Khir Toyo (right) to oust the Pakatan-led government in Selangor. — Picture by Jack Ooi

Rumours of crossovers and an imminent collapse was, however, rubbished by state Speaker Teng Chang Khim.

The Sungai Pinang PR assemblyman argued that even if eight PR state lawmakers were to defect, as has been speculated by some media reports, BN would still be unable to form a new state government.

BN has 20 state lawmakers compared to PR’s 36, but five opposition members, including Dr Mohd Khir, were recently suspended from the state assembly.

Dr Mohd Khir was suspended for a year for not attending a public inquiry into the misuse of state funds by the defunct Wives of Selangor Elected Representatives Welfare Organisation, or Balkis.

Four other BN state lawmakers were suspended for six months for criticising the Special Select Committee for Competency, Accountability and Transparency (Selcat), in the press, for carrying out the public inquiry.

In the event of eight defections, BN would still have only 23 members in the assembly compared to PKR’s 28.

“The reports are baseless speculations,” Teng told The Malaysian Insider.

However, Teng conceded there were PR state lawmakers who could be enticed to cross over.

He pointed out there was also talk that Khalid would dissolve the state assembly and call

for state wide elections if even three PR state lawmakers defected.

source : themalaysianinsider.com