Anwar to Prevent Coup in Selangor?

A Kadir Jasin

[NO anonymous comments. Please use Google Account, OpenID or Name/URL. Pseudonym accepted. Thank you]

THE Federal Government is planning to launch a coup in Selangor? The PKR strategist and MP for Pandan, Selangor, Rafizi Ramli thinks so.

And to stop that from happening, the party’s Ketua Umum, Anwar Ibrahim, has to be in the State Legislative Assembly. That appears to be the latest reason to explain why he is contesting in the Kajang State Legislative Assembly seat.

The Malaysian Insider quoted Rafizi as saying that Anwar 's presence in Dewan Undangan Negeri (DUN) “is vital to prevent Putrajaya from declaring a state of emergency to wrest control of the richest state.”

He said Barisan Nasional/Umno had done this in Kelantan in 1977 when it declared a state of emergency and subsequently grabbed power from PAS.

"This is one of the possibilities which we cannot rule out based on the escalating race and religious tension in Selangor," he said in response to why Anwar needed to contest in the Kajang by-election. (Read here).

Either Rafizi has a very fertile imagination or he knows something that we don’t. I would like to believe that it’s the second because he is, after all, the party’s strategist.

The Federal Government could declare a state emergency in Selangor only if law and order is under challenge. Rafizi said the escalating race and religious tension could be the excuse.

If indeed there is a race and religious tension, as he put it, it also happens in other states. Molotov cocktail bombs were thrown at a church in Penang, not Selangor.

So why should only Selangor be the target of an emergency rule by Putrajaya and a coup by the BN?

I think there’s something that Rafizi is not saying. He quoted the example of Kelantan. But I think he is actually thinking more of Perak in 2009.

The Pas-led but DAP-controlled PR government of Perak fell when two PKR and one DAP ADUNs left their parties to become independents.

The possibility of that happening in Selangor among the disgruntled PKR ADUNs cannot be dismissed if the factional war between Mohd Azmin Ali and Abdul Khalid Ibrahim continues.

Members of Azmin’s camp are more likely to abandon ship as their camp is seen as the loser. Anwar is caught in between. He is close to Azmin, who is the PKR deputy president and a long time confidant, but Abdul Khalid is said to be better accepted by the DAP and PAS.

So Anwar’s entry into the Selangor DUN has more to do with keeping the PKR ADUNs from abandoning ship than warding off a coup bid by the Federal Government or the BN.

The BN with only 12 out of 56 DUN seats is unlikely to be able to topple the state government. Out of the 44 PR members, 15 each are from the DAP and PAS, and 14 from PKR.

Rafizi and other PKR leaders should stop making excuses for forcing the Kajang by-election. If they want Anwar as the new Menteri Besar of Selangor just say so. If they want to solve the party’s internal problem via a by-election, so be it. There’s no need for them to beat around the senduduk (straits rhododendron) bush.