A PAS state executive councillor today came out in defence of Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim, calling him a responsible and competent mentri besar who always prioritised the interests of Selangor residents.
Dr Halimah Ali, who has served under Khalid as an exco for six years also said that the current crisis surrounding his position as MB as strictly a “political one” and had nothing to do with his ability to lead the state administration.
“Only one big problem with him. Nak minta duit susah (difficult to ask for fund allocation.)
“You have to have a workable plan and present your points. Only then he (Khalid) will approve,” she told reporters at a news conference here.
But Halimah stressed that this was a good quality, and that his decisions was done “for the people.”
When asked whether she agreed with Pakatan Rakyat’s collective move to replace him with Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, she said the issue between Khalid and PKR.
“He is approachable. From my experience, he does not make rash decisions especially involving big money.
“(But) whether he communicates with those who posed those questions, that is another thing,” she added, referring to PKR’s complaints that MB Khalid was uncooperative.
“We don’t want to be in this situation, PAS excos. We have to maintain, to ensure government servants not chaotic.
“We have to show the picture that the government is still running,” she said.
Halimah refused to comment when asked whether Dr Wan Azizah would make a better Selangor MB than Khalid.
“I don’t know, we will have to cross the bridge when it comes,” she said.
After weeks of bickering over the bid to remove Khalid from the Selangor mentri besar’s seat, the three-party coalition finally agreed on Sunday to nominate Dr Wan Azizah as his replacement.
The agreement did not come easily, however, as top leaders in PAS had previously opposed her nomination. Instead, they had urged their PR partner PKR to nominate deputy president Azmin Ali as a possible candidate for the post.
Khalid was sacked from PKR on August 9 for openly resisting his party’s order for him to step down and make way for Dr Wan Azizah.
After PR’s decision last weekend, however, Khalid said he will meet with the Sultan upon the ruler’s return from overseas this August 27 to discuss the debacle further.-themalaymailonline
