Politicians come and go, the people remain

Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim was a popular menteri besar but he had lost the confidence of the Pakatan coalition. – The Malaysian Insider file pic, September 27, 2014.

The Selangor menteri besar imbroglio seems over and the state ruler yesterday in not so many words, blamed the nine-month saga on the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) and PKR and their Kajang Move.

The Selangor sultan is right, of course.

The embarrassing situation of a menteri besar clinging on to power after losing the confidence of his coalition could have been avoided if PR had acted decisively after Election 2013.

They did not. And when they finally woke up to the fact that Khalid had to go or cost them the Selangor government in the long run, the Kajang Move was born – ostensibly to strengthen the state government but really to replace Khalid.

The issues against Khalid were many – from the state water industry restructuring programme to the nod for privatised highways and his silence over the settlement for his Bank Islam loan.

Why would a coalition replace a popular chief minister unless they had reasons to do so? And just into their second term of office?

PKR and PR have explained their reasons although the state ruler took them to task in the manner they went about to replace Khalid. Fair enough.

Yet, the important thing is this. The coalition had a right to replace Khalid. And once he lost their confidence, he should have gone and a popular replacement, one who has the confidence of the coalition, should have been appointed.

But that did not happen. The mess worsened because scant attention was paid to the rule of law, the spirit of the law and the state constitution when naming the new menteri besar.

The Selangor palace will have its reasons for its decision but really, it is the people that decide the government that they want.

The power in a democracy where elections are held every few years lies with the people.

Just as it is up to the people to throw out a government that has lost their support, it is also up to the government to throw out a leader that has lost their support. Politicians will come and go, but the people remain.

So it is for the people to judge if Azmin Ali and his cohorts perform well. Just as it is for the people to judge the Khalid administration when all facts about the water deal, Kidex and his out-of-court loan settlement is made public.

- TMI