PKR director of strategy Rafizi Ramli has admitted that there is a risk of Pakatan Rakyat losing Selangor should the state face a snap election as a result of the ongoing menteri besar crisis.
However, Rafizi believes that "defending principles is worth losing a government".
"If we lose the state government, so be it. Because we cannot abuse the trust that the rakyat had given us," Rafizi ( right ) told reporters after a forum held on the issue at the Kuala Lumpur and Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall last night.
During the question-and-answer session, Rafizi explained that it was difficult to change the menteri besar because "out of all the 44 assemblypersons, none (MB candidates) are unanimously accepted by all the parties in the opposition bloc".
The Pandan MP further claimed that going into the 13th general election, PAS could not agree on opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim as a candidate for prime minister should they win the election.
"Do you know that PAS proposed Umno's Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah as prime minister?" Rafizi told the crowd.
Asked why it took PKR some time to reveal the dossier on Selangor Menteri Besar Abdul Khalid Ibrahim, Rafizi said they had wanted to be fair to him.
Rafizi, however, lamented that "the fact that we didn't want to wash dirty linen in public is now used against us".
He had earlier explained the reason why it was pertinent for Khalid to resign as menteri besar.
A 91-page document handed over to PAS secretary-general Mustafa Ali ( right ) yesterday, which explained that Khalid's dispute over his debt with Bank Islam was the central issue to have him removed.
The document details the conflict of interest on Khalid's part in settling his personal RM59.5 million debt with Bank Islam (without interest as at Nov 2013).
Rafizi last night said that word got out in January this year that Khalid had negotiated with third parties to settle his debt which was later settled out-of-court.
"It was a concern as to who he negotiated with. The state government should not be held to ransom over such things. That is one of the reasons why we wanted a fresh start," he said.
‘Selangor should be better than Penang’
The forum also saw Khalid being criticised by all four speakers, apart from Rafizi.
Petaling Jaya Utara MP Tony Pua had criticised Khalid on the issue of competency.
Stressing that Selangor should be a better state than Penang since "the majority of talents is in Selangor", Pua ( left ) listed out some of the projects that have yet to be implemented in the state.
"What happened to the RM100 million integrated pig farm project that was announced back in July 2008?
"And what about the Malaysian Road Records Information System (Maris) fund?"
Pua said money allocated by the federal government through the fund for the state government to improve the condition of roads were not fully utilised.
"From 2010 to 2012, the federal government allocated RM1.1 billion. Only RM640 million was used," he said, adding that the unused money went to the state's reserves.
As for the water crisis, Pua said there was no need for water rationing because "there was actually enough water".
"But the state government continued to do rationing," he pointed out.
On whether Khalid should just finish his last term as menteri besar, Pua said: "Yes, it is Khalid's last term, but we don't want it to be Pakatan's last term as well.
"We should not wait a year before the next general election to make changes, more so since the people's support for us has gone down," said Pua.
As for PAS MP Mohamed Hanipa Maidin, he commented that PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang's support for Khalid ( right ) to continue as menteri besar was only a personal opinion.
"In the PAS constitution, the president does not have the veto power.
"I love my president, but I love my party more," added the Sepang MP.
Hanipa also said that he did not want the same thing that has happened in Kedah (where Umno wrested the state from PAS in the last general election) to happen again.
Professing himself as a PAS member who was not "fanatical", Hanipa even claimed that he has no problem with a DAP member becoming the menteri besar.
Ultimately, Hanipa said the ball is in Khalid's court.
"The solution lies with Khalid himself.
"He has to graciously resign and he should not wait for a decision to be made by the other parties."
Activist Hishamuddin Rais, on the other hand, believes that the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) will not investigate Khalid over the alleged misfeasance.
"There is no need to bring the cases to the MACC because they will defend him (Khalid)," he said.
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