Selangor Sultan slams Kajang Move as hijack of democratic process


Sultan of Selangor Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah

(Malay Mail Online) – The Kajang by-election triggered by a PKR assemblyman’s unforced resignation, known as the so-called “Kajang Move”, was a betrayal of voters in the state constituency, the Selangor Sultan has said.

Selangor Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah told local daily The Star in an interview published today that the democratic process should not be “hijacked” to fulfil a personal ambition, without naming anyone.

“The by-election was akin to betraying the people of Kajang,” said Sharafuddin.

“It was barely a year after the general election,” the ruler added.

The “Kajang Move” was ostensibly engineered to enable PKR de facto leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim to enter the Selangor legislative assembly and replace then-Selangor Mentri Besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim.

But the plan fell apart when the Court of Appeal found Anwar guilty of sodomy, disqualifying the opposition leader from contesting the March 23 by-election.

His wife, Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, contested instead and won the by-election after PKR’s Lee Chin Cheh stepped down as Kajang assemblyman.

The Selangor Sultan told The Star that the Selangor MB crisis was one of the worst MB crises that he had seen.

“The disruption to the Selangor administration, just to serve the purpose of one person is very, very selfish,” he said.

He added that he was shocked again when PKR objected to deputy president Azmin Ali becoming mentri besar.

“This rejection was very, very selfish. He is from the same party but they rejected him because of someone’s self-interest,” said Sharafuddin.

During the drawn-out crisis over the Selangor MB position, PKR had nominated party president Dr Wan Azizah to be Khalid’s replacement. PAS, however, is understood to have nominated other names.

The Selangor Sultan eventually settled on Azmin.

“I could have chosen someone from PAS as MB. But I was thinking of the long-term as well as the fact that there is an understanding that the Selangor MB will be from PKR,” said Sharafuddin.

He stressed that he was not against a woman becoming mentri besar, but said his benchmark was someone like Bank Negara governor Tan Sri Zeti Ungku Aziz.

“I have the highest respect for women personalities such as Tan Sri Zeti, Universiti Malaya pro-chancellor Toh Puan Dr Aishah Ong and other good women leaders. These are examples of good women leaders. Surely I will not doubt their fine characters,” said Sharafuddin.

“They are able to stand on their own without being remote-controlled, as your newspaper said…I like to see leaders, whether men or women, who can make decisions for Selangor in their own right,” he added.

 



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