Selangor Menteri Besar Khalid Ibrahim will re-contest in his Bandar Tun Razak parliamentary seat, announced PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim today.

He was speaking on a number of Selangor issues at a ceramah in Sungai Besi this morning when he said, "The people of Bandar Tun Razak must know the Talam issue.


 "This is because I want to announce on behalf of Pakatan Rakyat today that I would again nominate Tan Sri Khalid as candidate for the Bandar Tun Razak parliamentary constituency," he said to a cheering audience of about 300.

Anwar said he trusts Khalid because he has never abused his power even as he managed vast sums of money, first as a corporate leader and now the menteri besar.

However, there was no mention of the status of Khalid’s state legislative assembly candidacy although he is currently the Ijok assemblyperson.

There had also been political gossip of an internal rivalry between Khalid and PKR deputy president Mohamed Azmin Ali and their supporters, and that the latter would take over as Selangor menteri besar.


Party reps not to hold two seats?

Speaking to reporters later, Khalid said he expects PKR to make a decision similar to DAP chairperson Karpal Singh’s call to his party’s representatives not to hold both parliamentary and state seats except in exceptional circumstances.


NONE“Karpal Singh (left) made an exception for the Penang chief minister (Lim Guan Eng), so I believe PKR’s effort (to bar representatives from contesting in both seats), to maintain stability, would make several decisions in this direction.

“But this is mere speculation. Wait for the announcement,” he said.

Khalid said if he is re-elected, he would not stand for a third election but instead foster a cadre of leaders to be successors, so as to ensure continuity.

He said this is to give other leaders the chance to be MPs and assemblypersons, and because he has already been working for many years.

However, he stressed that the view, that MPs should not hold the position for more than two terms, is his personal one not that of the party.

Khalid: Development approvals must obey rules, laws

When asked about the State Planning Committee’s (SPC) review of the controversial condominium project near the Batu Caves temples, Khalid declined to comment on the possible outcome.

“As the chairperson of the SPC, we will evaluate this in terms of whether it adheres to development laws. I do not want to give any response until we study this in detail...

“We respect the approval given by the past government, but it must obey the rules and the law,” he said.


protest at batu cave temple 261012 03Earlier in his speech, Anwar also slammed calls for the project to be stopped immediately, instead of reviewing it.

“If we cancel now and get sued, who is going to pay? The state. Who collects the money? Umno, Barisan Nasional and MIC. Who is paying? We are. This is stupid people’s work (orang bodoh punya kerja ni).

“When they (BN) are in power, they acted like kings, everything goes, even a 29-storey building near the temple.

“But now they are out of power, Khalid gets the blame (for supposedly approving the building project),” said Anwar, who is also the state economic advisor.

Anwar, Khalid, PKR women’s chief Zuraida Kamaruddin and other party leaders were visiting Pekan Sungai Besi and its wet market this morning as part of the Jelajah Merdeka tour.

The group would spend the rest of the day visiting and speaking at several places in rural Selangor including Tanjung Karang, Pekan Sungai Besar and Batang Kali.-malaysiakini




 

cheers.