Anwar Ibrahim cause of Selangor political crisis - Study

Political analyst, Associate Professor Dr Ismail Sualman said in a study conducted in 20 state constituencies in Selangor, 2,138 respondents felt that the Kajang by-election in March, which was intentionally started by PKR, was the cause of the crisis. "The study conducted among others in Semenyih, Damansara and Sekinchan, showed that 44.5 per cent of the respondents agreed that Anwar Ibrahim engineered the Kajang by-election or "Kajang Move" to change the Selangor menteri besar. "Beginning with the Kajang Move, he is seen as wanting to expand his powers by simply asking Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim to resign as Selangor Menteri Besar Selangor," he told reporters after attending a forum titled "Selangor Political Crisis - Who's Doing" organised by the Malay Consultative Council here today.

Ismail, a senior lecturer at the Faculty of Communications and Media Studies at Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) here, said besides Anwar, respondents also blamed PAS President Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang for the crisis.

He said the people of Selangor felt that Abdul Hadi was inconsistent in making a decision on the candidate for the new menteri besar, causing the crisis to be prolonged.

"Results of the survey showed that 17.9 per cent of the respondents felt Abdul Hadi was weak in making a decision, causing the crisis to prolong, while 15.2 per cent agreed that the PKR president Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail should be blamed. The remainder felt that Rafizi Ramli (PKR vice-president) was the cause," he said.

Commenting on the change in Selangor menteri besar, Ismail said the "game of chess" played by PKR to change the menteri besar was not well-played. He said if PKR had considered Abdul Khalid weak, he should not have been nominated for the post of Selangor menteri besar after the 13th general election.

"PKR itself claims that Abdul Khalid is weak. If he is weak, why nominate him to be menteri besar and stand as candidate to be Port Klang assemblyman.