The cards are laid on the table except for the last card and Selangor Mentri Besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim is not about to reveal it – not as yet.
With Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) de facto chief Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim seemingly after ‘his blood’ for dropping his loyalist Azmin Ali from Selangor Development Corporation (PKNS) board, Khalid seems to be playing cool.
The present political rift between Khalid and PKR deputy president Azmin is getting hotter, and the temperature is not going down anytime now given that Anwar is backing Azmin all the way.
PKR is close-knitted at the top – advisor Anwar and president Datin Seri Wan Azizah Ismail are husband and wife, one of the five vice-presidents is Nurul Izzah who is their daughter.
Azmin, who is now in the middle of the political tiff with Khalid is Anwar’s closest ally, who Anwar most probably trust more than anyone else.
Getting entangled with Azmin is no child’s play unless one has got a true solid backing from someone somewhere who Anwar fears or respects and Khalid, whether he has one or not, is actually playing with fire.
Does Khalid has an Ace that he would open when he is pushed to the corner?
Anwar’s show of anger against him has put him in an unstable position as the Mentri Besar as Anwar can appoint anybody from the party to replace him, of course with the consent of the other partners DAP and PAS, which many observers feel Anwar could get anytime.
However, why is Anwar not doing this is another question as Khalid, despite being politically novice and not possessing grassroot support, does not seem to fear such threats.
And the ‘scapegoats’ thus far are PKNS general manager Datuk Othman Said and executive secretary Norita Mohd Sidek.
When PKR political bureau sat a week ago to hear the case, only Azmin was present and the bureau members heard Azmin’s side of the story while Khalid was absent, the same thing happened at the party supreme council meeting the next night after the political bureau meeting.
In the absence of Khalid’s version of the issue, obviously the ‘judgement’ was on Azmin’s side and when Anwar expressed disagreement with Khalid’s action on Azmin, Khalid put the blame on PKNS.
Othman and Norita, as civil servants, had said they were in no position to make such decision as only the state executive councilors had the authority to do such things.
Khalid then transferred them out, citing investigation was taking place and the two should not be there while this was going on.
Khalid’s action is seen as a cover-up to ‘more than the eyes can see’ as even a layman knows a general manager and an executive secretary have no power to remove a director.
Given PKNS, a statutory body under the state government, a general manager and executive secretary are just civil servants who ‘menurut perintah’ or ‘obeying orders’ according to one of the PKR political bureau members.
With Anwar raging mad and Khalid taking it coolly, the political rift between Anwar’s loyalist Azmin and Khalid is expected to drag until the coming party poll in May where the delegates will have the final say.
