Saturday May 11, 2013

GE13: Azmin Ali questions Wan Azizah

Reports by MAZWIN NIK ANIS, TEH ENG HOCK, REGINA LEE, CHRISTINA CHIN and TASHNY SUKUMARAN

Azmin flanked by his supporters while speaking to reporters in Petaling Jaya.

PETALING JAYA: PKR deputy president Azmin Ali has launched a thinly veiled attack against president Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail for failing to consult Selangor party leaders over who should be the mentri besar.

The Selangor PKR chief had fired the first salvo a day earlier by saying that the next mentri besar should not be a “lame duck” who allowed himself to be led by others.

The reference was seen as a dig at Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim.

At a packed press conference yesterday, Azmin said Dr Wan Azizah had sent a letter to the palace endorsing a particular candidate for the post without the knowledge of state PKR leaders.

“The process to select the mentri besar was not done through consultation and consensus.

“I expected the party leadership to call for a special meeting to get the opinion of MPs and assemblymen before making any recommendation on who should be the MB.

“As of now, my friends and I have no idea whose name was submitted to the palace because we were not consulted,” he said.

However, he said whoever was chosen would be respected as long as the decision was reached through consensus and consultation.

Azmin said his unhappiness stemmed from the failure of PKR leadership to engage Selangor assemblymen, MPs and division leaders in the selection process and not because he was eyeing the mentri besar's post.

He also denied rumours that he would resign from his party position and that of Gombak MP and as Bukit Antarabangsa assemblyman, stressing that he had no intention to do so.

“I have no doubt these rumours were started by Umno and Barisan Nasional to cast me in the most negative light and to paint me as an unscrupulous person who would abandon his party for political position and material gains.

“To these people, let me say this: carry on dreaming because I have no intention of resigning.

“This has been my struggle for the past 15 years. I am confident with the PKR struggle and will not leave the party,” he said to the applause of his supporters.

On Khalid's leadership style, Azmin said it was no different from his Barisan predecessors, adding that it was still too bureaucratic for a reformist party.

“I am not saying that he is corrupt but we need to be more than just that. In 2008, we were all caught by surprise (in winning Selangor).

“After five years, we need to ensure a new system is in place and a strong leader is appointed to work for the people who have given us a strong mandate,” he said.

On Wednesday's mammoth rally held in Kelana Jaya to protest against the general election results, Azmin said he was not lambasting the party in his tweets but only urging it to move forward after the polls.

Azmin said disagreement was not the reason why he did not attend.

“I have been going to one rally after another for the past 15 years. But for future rallies, I will be there and support them,” he said.

For more election stories, please visit The Star's GE13 site

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