SENANG-SHEET: Understand the Khalid Ibrahim drama in 5 mins or less* [UPDATED!]

What on earth is up with this Khalid Ibrahim drama, uols? It’s all over the news! Chances are, out of all the headlines flying across the papers, only 20% of the population know what’s going on. No, actually, we made up the numbers. Could be 2%.

If you’re as confused and as overwhelmed by all the information available (pretty much like how we were prior to understanding the story), fret not. After talking to political analysts such as Wong Chin-Huat and Fahri Azzat as well as local observer Jon Freeman, we’ve compressed everythang into quick bites for easy digestion. Two disclaimers tho.

1. In compressing everything, we might have overlooked A WHOLE LOT, so please point it out politely and we’ll try to incorporate it.

2. We will be using ‘ALLEGEDLY’ a lot.

We lost quite a bit of hair on our heads cos of this… So read the whole thing pls, kthnx.

*UPDATE 2 on Monday, 8 September 2014 at 4.00pm. Click here to see the updates.*

*UPDATE 1 on Monday, 18 August 2014 at 12.00pm. Click here to see the updates.*

 

Why is PR unhappy with Khalid?

1. They felt that he lost his integrity after allegedly receiving financial help by UMNO
Khalid, who allegedly had a RM70 million debt to Bank Islam due to some share mess-up when he was CEO of Kumpulan Guthrie, had a sudden out-of-court settlement. With such a huge sum and a long-standing I-sue-you-you-sue-me-we-sue-each-other drama, Bank Islam suddenly dropped the suit. It has been said that BN footed the bill and now Khalid is indebted to them.

In fact, a mere month after dropping the suit against Khalid, “two business deals worth hundreds of millions of ringgit were signed between the Selangor government and Eco World Berhad.” In all fairness, who can blame anyone for feeling suspicious over that?

2. PR allegedly wanted Anwar to be MB of Selangor
This is where the ‘Kajang Move’ comes in. It’s a super complication situation where PR wanted to make Anwar MB, but he was slapped with sodomy charges and Wan Azizah, his wife, became the Kajang assemblyperson instead. Check out this analysis on the story here.

3. PKR didn’t like the way he ran the state. They even came up with a listicle!
PKR, one of the three parties which make up the coalition, came up with a report listing six points why Khalid should not be the MB anymore.

And why is Khalid unhappy with PR?

1. He might actually be a good guy.

Many of the people we interviewed – analysts and regular Joes alike – thought that Khalid Ibrahim wasn’t as much as a villian as the media portrayed him to be. In fact, Khalid was in stark contrast to the previous BN-led icons who were scandalous – he was always seen as the ‘clean guy’ who who cared little for politics but rather the betterment of the rakyat. He ran the state government like how one would run a corporation, rightly so because of his strong corporate background as ex-CEO of Kumpulan Guthrie Berhad, among others.

2. He claims he wasn’t given a fair shake

He started getting flak after the Bible-seizure incident, then Kidex, then water management and Bank Islam… But if he was doing a good job prior to being asked to leave by PKR, of course he’d be unhappy, especially when he wasn’t given a proper chance to answer to the public allegations made against him (disclaimer: that’s in his words).

“As a party fighting for justice for all, I should also be given a real chance, not just a mirage, to answer to the allegations of my wrongdoing.” – Khalid Ibrahim

 

Zzz… Why should I care?

1. The peoples in Selangor is losing their power to decide
Wong Chin-Huat, a political analyst, tells CILISOS this: “The state government affects your life in many ways, from getting water supply from mining pools to whether to build the Kidex highway. When you lose your power to decide your government, you lose your say on these important decisions.”

Also, another point to note, local observer Jon Freeman adds that this poor management should make Malaysians realise that PR may not be ready to rule. So why should you care, anyway? You SO TOTALLY SHOULD care especially if you were one of the Selangor voters who made up the majority who chose PR over BN in last year’s general elections. Remember the mega-long queues and the blue-tipped fingers all over Instagram?

“People need to get more involved with how things are run in this country, and not leave it to the politicians,” Jon adds. “If you don’t take an interest in politics, politics will one way or another take an interest in you. If you aren’t concerned with how your government is run, then your way of life will eventually be affected by someone who has no clue about how you feel about things around you.” Well said, Jon.

2. Selangor is the richest and most populous state
If PR loses control over Selangor, it would mean that PR would’ve lost its richest, most urban state. If PR maintains its control over the state then it would also mean that they would be able to control the money that goes into the state or the federal government’s pockets. But what does that all mean anyway? Not like it’s going into our pockets right? Well, how that plays out will tell the rakyat about the direction of the government.

3. PR isn’t as united as we thought
So, get this. From a report by Malay Mail Online, PKR strategy director Rafizi Ramli revealed that PAS refused to endorse Anwar, PKR’s de facto leader, as Pakatan Rakyat’s prime minister candidate. Because of this, Khalid was chosen as MB – similar to a prime minister – because was “the least objectionable choice to PAS, PKR or DAP”. With this new revelation, we now know that this three-party coalition is not as united as we thought, giving the nation reasonable doubt whether or not they are able to run a state let alone a country.

But hey, at CILISOS we don’t believe that skills – especially managing – come overnight. Take something super micro, like brewing a cup of coffee (which our editor does for us with his super cun machine everyday). It took him practice through trial and error to go from ‘tak boleh minum’ to pretty much the best shizz ever. So yes, we recognise that it takes lessons – good and bad – for anyone, let alone an organisation, to learn and level up.

4. If you don’t understand the situation, you won’t know who to root for
So the six points against Khalid are just allegations, but with PR having lost all support for him the question is –  should he even  hold on to the position?

Imagine having part of your company against you, regardless whether the claims against you were true or not – would you hold on to your high position, and how would you work with a team that clearly doesn’t want to work with you? And it’s not like a bookshop or cafe or sumfink – it’s frickin’ Selangor Darul Ehsan!

The point here is this: who’s the villian and who’s the victim? If push comes to shove and we resort to a state election, it becomes our responsibility to, again, do what we think is best for the state and the country.

 

Ok, so how will this case be decided?

Ok so now that you know roughly what’s going on, let’s see what might happen. Here are three possible outcomes to settle this drama:

Outcome 1: PR forces Khalid to resign
How? By a no-confidence vote that was supposedly happening on August 17th. However, just yesterday (15th Aug 2014), The Star reported that Wan Azizah had 30 state assemblypersons who supported her to be the new Mentri Besar. With this, University Malaya lecturer Gurdial Singh Nijar said that the Sultan will be bound by legal precedent to order the MB to resign. Plus, Article 53(6) of the Selangor State Constitution states that if the MB ‘ceases to command the confidence of the majority’ of the members of the Assembly, he shall tender his resignation and that of state exco.

Outcome 2: PR and Khalid make nice
Well… Chances of that happening would be pretty slim but weirder things have happened, and we’re optimists 🙂

Outcome 3: Khalid goes back to BN
A few experts have told us that this is possible but with the numbers and the jargons and all that political language, we couldn’t understand jack. (We tried so hard and got so far but in the end it doesn’t even matter… JK, it does.) Honestly, between ‘state assemblymen’, ‘parliamentary seats’, all that big big words AND some math calculation, we’re just…

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What’s next?

The Sultan’s consent is a formality, but the 2009 Perak crisis has proven otherwise. So what next? Interesting times… Interesting times ahead. Will Khalid be the new MB, or will Wan Azizah step up? Is it really true that BN would take Selangor back? Will the Sultan intervene? Either way, the case must be resolved ASAP or else administration of the state would be greatly disrupted. It’s bound to be an even more interesting few days!

Check back to see updates as we continue to have our minds blown.

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*UPDATE 1 on Monday, 18 August 2014*

It was a pretty dramatic Sunday with PAS suddenly turning their backs against Khalid, but not for the sake of backing Wan Azizah up. In fact, The Star reported that they nominated PKR deputy president Azmin Ali as the second candidate for the Selangor Mentri Besar position. Why so? ‘Cause “the party was not comfortable with Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail leading the state.” Jeng jeng jeng! 

Think it can’t get any worse? Well actually you’re right, because Azmin declined to be a nominee, tuning things down to make it easier for Wan Azizah to step up. Here’s what Anwar had to say, in a separate report from The Star:

“The council also takes note and appreciates the nominations of Dr Wan Azizah and Azmin for the Mentri Besar position. However, Azmin has stressed that he supports PKR’s decision to name Dr Wan Azizah as the sole candidate for the post.” – Anwar Ibrahim

Khalid leh?

He told reporters that he accepted PAS’ decision “with an open heart”, but also said that he’d be meeting with the Sultan to discuss next steps.

“Until His Royal Highness makes a final decision, I will continue to helm the Selangor state administration with the four current executive councillors from PAS to ensure the rakyat is not affected by this political crisis.” – Khalid Ibrahim

So, the question still stands… WHAT NOW?? 

We wait. We wait for the Sultan to return from abroad on August 27th. So from now till then, we’re expecting to see a lot more twists to the story.  Don’t finish your popcorn.

*UPDATE 2 on Monday, 8 September 2014*

The whole crisis is finally over, you guys! Nah, just kidding.

We first published this article on 16 August and it’s only a week more till we call it a month. We were also super late to the party as the drama started all the way in July.

Through the past few weeks, we’ve been bouncing off news and discussions about name submissions, Pakatan’s unity, PAS’ loyalty, Khalid’s next move, waits on the Sultan’s decisions, palace announcements, yadda yadda… All of which didn’t really raise our eyebrows, till today.

As we waited for the Sultan’s decision upon receiving the nominees by Pakatan, the next thing we expected to hear was the one who would replace Khalid. Instead, just a few hours ago, PKR and DAP were told off by the palace for not heeding his decree.

What HRH Sultan of Selangor requested on 27 Aug: the 3 parties (PKR, DAP and PAS) to submit at least 2 names for the Selangor MB post

But what he received: 3 names from PAS; 1 name from PKR and DAP (they nominated Wan Azizah)

He was not happy, you guys. Here’s what the press statement read, as translated to English by The Star:

“The Sultan is extremely disappointed with DAP and PKR for not abiding to his royal highness’ decree and naming only (PKR president) Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail. The act of DAP and PKR showed arrogance to the royal institution and also ‘derhaka’ (disloyal) to the Sultan of Selangor.” – Datuk Mohd Munir Bani, private secretary to the Sultan 

Not making this up:

It’s not the first time PKR is getting flak from the palace. Anwar had once requested to meet the Sultan after Khalid was reinstated, but was turned down. In a report by The Malay Mail Online, a source close to the palace had said that Anwar may have broken protocol with his letter.

“It is as though someone ill-advised him (Anwar) on the purpose. We seriously cannot believe he made that mistake. Protokol pun tak faham (He doesn’t even understand protocol). With regards to the letter, it’s as though Anwar doesn’t want to meet Tuanku but must show he is trying to do so. But he knows he can’t be meeting Tuanku by making such a rookie mistake.” – the source close to the palace told the Malay Mail Online

Back to today’s news. Not exactly sure if there are legal repercussions that PKR and DAP could face, but one thing’s for sure is… This crisis is not going to end anytime soon. It really should, though – the longer it drags on, the greater the impact it’ll have on Pakatan and their influence.

In the true light-hearted spirit of CILISOS (some may call us juvenile but we’re just easy-going), let’s take a poll. WE KNOW YOU LOVE POLLS. FYI you don’t win anything.

*The time it takes to read this was absolutely made up. Sorry.