Khalid has said he wants to stay on and complete his second term, but it appears that Anwar wants him out soon after Hari Raya. Pundits say Anwar has decided to place his wife, Dr. Wan Azizah Ismail, in the Menteri Besar’s seat.
Anwar and Khalid have had a falling out since well before last March’s Kajang by-election, which was indeed engineered with the objective of ousting Khalid, who has been making decisions seen as unrepresentative of what Pakatan stands for.
The election, which Wan Azizah won, was soon followed by attacks on Khalid, mostly from his colleagues in PKR and also from figures in DAP.
Called into question were the water deals he made with the federal government, his apparent indecision on the issue of the seizure of Bibles from the Bible Society of Malaysia and his decision to back the controversial Kinrara-Damansara Highway (Kidex).
Some of his critics allege that he had been behaving more like a Barisan Nasional leader than a Pakatan man, especially since the settlement of his case with Bank Islam over a massive loan he took years ago, when he was a major corporate figure and not yet a politician.
As the embattled Menteri Besar struggles to cling on to his post, he has found friends in unexpected places.
Umno mouthpiece Utusan Malaysia, which used to be critical of him, is now heaping praises on him. Last week, it called him a “brave leader” for standing up against Anwar and said he should remain as Menteri Besar.
In an editorial yesterday, the paper spoke of Khalid as a man of integrity and high morals.
It looks like an interesting political re-alignment is taking place, the dynamics of which may become clearer in the coming weeks.
Can Anwar afford to be hasty in his move against Khalid, who is said to be close to the Palace? If Khalid digs in and stays on, as he has said he would, won’t that cause a headache the severity of which Anwar had not anticipated?
The persistent Anwar may have met his match in the stubborn Khalid.
By Baradan Kuppusamy
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