Khalid Samad claims of plot to oust Selangor MB

Khalid Samad claims of plot to oust Selangor MB

September 07, 2011
Khalid sees a conspiracy in the sudden fervour by the state’s Islamic religious authorities. — File pic
KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 7 — Shah Alam MP Khalid has alleged that several religious authorities and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) are conspiring to topple Selangor Mentri Besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim.

The PAS leader claimed that the groups, including the Selangor Islamic Religious Department (Jais), Selangor Islamic Religious Council (Mais) chairman Datuk Setia Mohamad Adzib Mohd Isa, several Islamic NGOs and representatives from the Attorney-General’s Chambers, held a secret meeting last month to discuss a plan aimed at unseating the first-term state leader.

The move, he alleged, was planned following Jais’ controversial raid on the Damansara Utama Methodist Church (DUMC) in Petaling Jaya on August 3.

“They discussed handing over a memorandum to the Selangor Sultan, attacking the mentri besar on this issue of Christianisation.

“It looks like an effort to topple him. It is hoped that none of Pakatan Rakyat (PR) state executive councillors, especially those from PAS, were involved,” he wrote in his blog last night.

When contacted by The Malaysian Insider, however, Khalid said he was unsure of the specific date of the meeting but claimed that prior to Election 2008, the religious authorities hardly interfered in the then Barisan Nasional (BN) state government’s administration.

“But in the era of a welfare-oriented mentri besar (Khalid Ibrahim), one who is clean of corruption and prioritises the people, any excuse is used to blast the mentri besar.

“There are those who are beginning to ask, ‘why was there silence before and now they are making noise?’ Then there are those who say that before they got a slice but now they do not even get dust... so that is why they are all chaotic now,” he said.

In his entry, Khalid also accused Umno of exploiting the palace’s name for BN’s political interest.

He said during BN’s reign in Selangor, news involving the Sultan was rarely publicised save for those involving the palace’s customary functions.

“This is Umno’s behaviour. When they are no longer in demand, they bring the Sultan to the fore when before, they were the ones casting him out.

“What I am most concerned about is that the image of the palace and the Sultan will be tarnished if Umno-BN continues to drag them into politics,” he said.

Khalid also likened Umno’s “willingness” to sacrifice the public and the country for the sake of recapturing Selangor to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi’s rule.

On Jais’ action on DUMC, Khalid expressed disappointment that the religious authority had requested another month to complete its report.

This, he said, would reflect negatively on the department’s professionalism as they had acted speedily when inspecting the church but chose to drag its feet when required to produce a report on the incident.

“I understand that the DUMC officials have met with PAS, clarifying that the church had nothing to do with the dinner function that night,” he said, adding that the NGO Harapan Komuniti had been the one requesting to use the church’s premises on the night of the raid.

“The claim of apostasy was made by unknown persons and Jais acted without prior investigation. Perhaps the parties that reported the claim had a bad intention from the start?” Khalid questioned.

Khalid Ibrahim has announced that he will receive Jais’ full report when he returns from his working trip to Germany on September 16.

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