ALL EYES ON DAP AFTER SPITEFUL MOVE BY HADI CAMP: Pas supports Azizah but adds Azmin's name

UPDATE 3 KUALA LUMPUR - As expected, PAS voted to govern Malaysia's richest state Selangor from within the Pakatan Rakyat coalition rather than join forces with Umno, as demanded by party hardliners, to snatch power from allies DAP and PKR.

Yet, conservative factions aligned to PAS president Hadi Awang could not resist a back-handed turn against the PKR and its president Wan Azizah, announcing it would also support Azmin Ali as a second candidate for the post of Mentri Besar of Chief Minister.

"After PKR sacked Khalid, Hadi had no choice but to stop supporting him. If PAS continued to do so, it would mean they are exiting Pakatan. Accepting Azizah is something Hadi cannot avoid doing either or it would look very suspicious and unprofessional because she has the support of 30 out of the state assembly's 56 representatives to replace Khalid," PKR vice president Tian Chua told Malaysia Chronicle.

PAS deputy president Mohammad Sabu arrives at PAS headquarters for key meeting

"What is not so nice is to throw in Azmin's name - not because he is not qualified - but because it is totally unnecessary. It only allows Pakatan enemies like Khalid and Umno-BN to continue stirring up trouble. Not to mention intensify and prolong the infighting within all the Pakatan parties - PKR, DAP and PAS  over who should be the MB. All that is very unfair to Azizah as she already has the majority support and is legally the MB (based on the Perak precedent) pending confirmation from the Sultan."

In a move to break the deadlock in Selangor, PAS today announced it would back both PKR president Wan Azizah Wan Ismail and deputy president Azmin Ali for the menteri besar post.

This was announced by PAS deputy president Mohamad Sabu after almost two hours of deliberation by the party's central committee meeting at its headquarters.

Hadi Awang who triggered the Selangor crisis by insisting on supporting disgraced MB Khalid Ibrahim

Will DAP take principled stand or sell out Azizah?

All eyes are now on DAP, which has stoutly rejected incumbent MB Khalid Ibrahim after he failed to come clean on a raft of graft accusations including a controversial RM70 million Bank Islam loan and special concessions to Umno-linked firms involving water and land deals.

"Kit Siang and Guan Eng have been vocal about not discriminating against Azizah because she is a woman.  But in the past, when Anwar wanted to give Azmin a chance at the MB post, both DAP and PAS stirred up claims that he was too pro-Umno and anti-Chinese. There was also a lot of buzz about Azmin having 'side deals'," a Pakatan analyst told Malaysia Chronicle.

"But PAS seems to have forgotten its previous objections. DAP can also do the same - we have to wait and see what DAP decides and what excuses will be offered. Whatever it is, the Selangor Pakatan administration has become a sham. PAS has lost all credibility, I can't see how they can recover voter respect by GE14 - even Muslims would think twice about siding them.'

"DAP won't lose Chinese support so fast but it will lose the respect of voters especially in the urban areas if it fails to take a principled stand now. This decision by PAS to include Azmin not only throws a spanner into the works in resolving the Selangor crisis but spells the end of Pakatan Rakyat.

"Umno accuses Anwar of political greed while behind the scenes PAS and DAP are trying to break up PKR and cannibalize its membership and seats for themselves. The Pakatan we knew in GE13 is finished - eaten up by their own infighting."

Sad end to an era of robust political growth

Anwar Ibrahim, the de-facto head of the Pakatan coalition, is also the PKR adviser. Like him or not, few can refute that he is the glue that binds the wildly opposing ideologies of the DAP and PAS and gels them together with PKR into a fighting-fit alliance that won 52% of all votes cast in the 13th general election.

Azmin Ali, the PKR deputy president and Anwar loyalist, often accused of being pro-Umno and anti-Chinese

A conciliatory father-figure, many in his own PKR party accuse him of being overly so, Anwar has promised Malaysians he would not allow Pakatan to break up over the Selangor crisis. Sadly, Pakatan's fate may be beyond him to steer.

A former Deputy Prime Minister and Umno deputy president, the 66-year-old Anwar is also the politician most feared by Prime Minister Najib Razak's BN coalition.

Given the ruling party's despotic politicking, not many are surprised Anwar is again facing jail over manifestly trumped-up sodomy charges - a scheme that was used to oust and sack him from power in 1998 by his former bosses in Umno. He was acquitted and freed in 2004.

Many political watchers believe if Anwar is imprisoned again, an era of growth in Malaysian politics may end or at the very least falter for a period of time. Hence, giving Najib and BN much-needed breathing space.

"It's about respecting the parliamentary process - just as we say Khalid cannot insist on staying on as MB because Azizah has already shown she has the support of 30 assemblymen. If voters think that DAP or PAS or PKR have failed to live up to their promises of adhering to the principles of democracy, then they may lose faith," Ramon Navaratnam, a past president of Transparency International, told Malaysia Chronicle

"Many Malaysians are already frustrated Pakatan could not win GE13, they may just flock back to BN if DAP, PAS and PKR show themselves to be anything less than principled."

Meanwhile, the Pakatan leadership council is due to hold a press conference at 6.30pm later tonight, while the scandal-tainted Azmin has said he will be issuing a statement on the PAS nomination soon. - Malaysia Chronicle