PAKATAN Harapan is unlikely to be toppled in Selangor because of the strong support of the majority of the state’s legislators, said party officials

Recent events in Kedah, where PH assemblymen have defected to Perikatan Nasional (PN), have fuelled speculation of a similar takeover in Selangor by the rival coalition.

The possibility of Selangor falling to PN is strengthened by the fact that many of the legislative members in PKR, the largest component of PH, are former supporters of Mohamed Azmin Ali, the Bukit Antarabangsa assemblyman.  

At least 10 of the party’s 21 state reps are said to favour Azmin, who was the party deputy president and the Selangor PKR chairman for more than a decade.

Azmin was also the Selangor menteri besar from 2014 to 2018.

In late February, Azmin and nine others left PH to form PN with Bersatu, Umno and PAS.

PKR sources told The Malaysian Insight that even if every assemblyman linked to Azmin were to leave PH for the other side, PN would still be five seats short of the majority necessary to form the state government.

That is if up to 13 PKR reps leave to join the state opposition made up of Umno and Bersatu, which each has five seats, and PAS (one).

Their combined 24 seats are not enough to give PN the 29-seat majority it needs to seize power.
 
“Even in a worst-case scenario, they would still be short because the rest of the PKR assemblymen are known to be loyal to Anwar Ibrahim,” said a state party official referring to the party president.

“To take over Selangor, they would have to get the cooperation of DAP and Amanah, and these parties have so far pledged support for PH.”

DAP has 16 seats and Amanah, eight. Collectively, the three partners in PH have 45 seats in the Selangor assembly.

Won’t work with betrayers

PH lost control of the federal government in late February due to the political machinations, known as the “Sheraton move” of Azmin and Bersatu president Muhyiddin Yassin.

Counting himself, Azmin delivered 10 PKR seats while Bersatu president Muhyiddin took his party out of the ruling coalition to what would become the PN pact.

With Umno, PAS, MCA, MIC and Gabungan Parti Sarawak, the two groups formed the full complement required to take Putrajaya.

Muhyiddin was subsequently sworn in as prime minister on March 1.

In the weeks following the bloodless coup, PH lost control of Johor, Malacca and Perak as it continued to lose more state lawmakers to its rival.

Meanwhile, the governments of Selangor, Penang, Negri Sembilan and Kedah pledged allegiance to the ousted coalition  

In a shock announcement two days ago, two PKR state reps and four of their Bersatu colleagues in Kedah declared they have lost confidence in the PH state government and would cast their lot with PN, setting the stage for a power grab.  

It seemed merely a matter of time before PN made a move for the state known to be Azmin’s power base.

Selangor Amanah chairman Izham Hashim did not deny there had been attempts to persuade the party’s eight state reps to jump ship.

Such overtures have been rejected, he said.

“Amanah is confident of the integrity of its assemblymen and that they will continue to support PH and hold on to the principle of respecting the people’s mandate,” Izham, who is the Pandan Indah assemblyman, told The Malaysian Insight.
 
Selangor DAP secretary Ronnie Liu said all 16 of the party’s assemblymen are fully behind Menteri Besar Aminuddin Shaari and the PH state government.

“Principle wise we are still with PH. We will not work with anyone who betrays the mandate of the people.” – May 14, 2020.