PETALING JAYA: PKR believes the Sultan of Selangor has not rejected party president Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Ismail as Mentri Besar but will decide based on the law.
PKR secretary-general Saifuddin Nasution said in a statement that the party believed that the Ruler "is wise about the state’s constitution" and "is still open" to Dr Wan Azizah's nomination.
Saifuddin was commenting on "misinformation" in the social media resulting from PAS president Datuk Seri Hadi Awang's meeting with Selangor PAS leaders on Friday.
Some of the "misinformation" were that PAS rejected Dr Wan Azizah's nomination supposedly on a decree of the Sultan and that PKR leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s meeting with Hadi on Aug 11 was to secure a letter of support for Dr Wan Azizah from Hadi.
Saifuddin explained that PAS president Datuk Seri Hadi Awang and secretary-general Mustafa Ali flew to Kuala Lumpur on Aug 9 to meet DAP leaders without the knowledge of PKR.
He said at the meeting PAS leaders made their stand to reject Dr Wan Azizah with the hope that DAP would follow suit.
After being told of this by DAP, Anwar went to Kuala Terengganu to meet Hadi.
Saifuddin said the meeting was about how to repair the relationship between the parties in Pakatan and not securing a support letter from Hadi for Dr Wan Azizah.
He said the rejection of Dr Wan Azizah's nomination had circulated long before news that the Sultan was supposedly not in favour of her.
He said it was public knowledge that some PAS leaders rejected Dr Wan Azizah due to her gender.
“To date, the PAS top leadership had yet to give clear reasons why they continue to make statements rejecting Dr Wan Azizah even though the PAS central committee has yet to convene,” he said. The PAS central committee will meet Sunday to discuss the matter.
He said as a coalition with two-thirds majority from GE13, the choice of mentri besar should be done with consensus of the members.
"The Selangor Sultan is well-versed with the Constitution and state laws and PKR believes that Tuanku is still open to the issue and will decide based on the principles of law," he said.
Saifuddin said the issue of other parties proposing names for mentri besar does not arise as Pakatan Rakyat had always respected the nomination of a party's choice.
He urged PAS to consider that Dr Wan Azizah has the support of 30 assemblymen in the state assembly.
He said the current crisis could be resolved within the framework of Pakatan, which would have been resolved at the Pakatan leadership on July 23 but was instead postponed.
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