The Malaysian Insight

SELANGOR will continue to be administered by the defunct Pakatan Rakyat as it was the mandate given by the people, said Mentri Besar Mohamed Azmin Ali today.

Azmin was responding to questions on why there was no state-level Pakatan Harapan (PH) in Selangor.

“In the state context, Pakatan Rakyat still exists because that was the mandate given by the rakyat.

“As the Selangor mentri besar I have to carry out the mandate given by the rakyat in the last election, in the context of Pakatan Rakyat,” he said in Kuala Lumpur today.

He said carrying out the trust given is more crucial than talking about setting up the Pakatan Harapan structure.

“Bersatu (Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia) just joined in. But at the national level we have yet to resolve the structure.

“We still do not know who is the Pakatan Harapan chairman. So let’s resolve things at national level before it reaches the state,” he said.

He said PH can come into the picture when strategising for the next election.

Pakatan Rakyat fell apart when PAS and DAP cut ties with each other in July 2015. PKR, DAP, and PAS off-shoot Parti Amanah Negara (Amanah) then formed Pakatan Harapan, which Bersatu later joined.

Selangor Amanah leaders have urged PKR deputy president Azmin to stop trying to woo PAS to form an electoral pact and just focus on forming a state-level Pakatan Harapan secretariat to face the next elections.

Amanah chairman Izham Hashim said the setting up of the secretariat has already been agreed to by DAP, Amanah and Bersatu, but was being held back by PKR.

He said although the state has yet to set up the coalition, several areas within Selangor – such as Shah Alam and Kapar – have already formed a PH secretariat.

Izham also said PKR’s hopes of reaching an agreement with PAS on which areas to contest in GE14 were unrealistic, as Amanah and Bersatu plan to compete in all 20 state seats eyed by PAS in the polls.

Izham added that he understood why Azmin still wanted to retain the PAS exco members in Selangor for now, but stressed that PH needed to be formed at the state to strengthen the coalition. – July 5, 2017.