SELANGOR’S WATERGATE ABOUT TO EXPLODE

Anwar brought Wan Azmi to meet Khalid to try to resolve this matter. Anwar supports the RM2.5 billion claim but Khalid is stubbornly sticking to the figure of RM250 million. And this is why Anwar is mad as hell and wants Khalid out. And this is also why Rafizi said today that once Dr Wan Azizah takes over as Menteri Besar they are going to review the water agreements.

THE CORRIDORS OF POWER

Raja Petra Kamarudin

It would not surprise me one bit if Selangor Darul Ehsan were mistaken for Selangor Darul Keliru. Over the last few weeks, in particular these last few days, various parties, the Palace included, have issued statement after statement that contradict one another.

The latest press statement today (and not the only one today, mind you), co-signed by Anwar Ibrahim (thede facto leader of PKR), Mohamad Sabu (the Deputy President of PAS), and Lim Guan Eng (the Secretary-General of DAP), says as follows:

Majlis Pimpinan Pakatan Rakyat yang bermesyuarat hari ini 23 Julai 2014 telah menerima cadangan daripada KEADILAN untuk membuat pertukaran Menteri Besar di Selangor seterusnya mencalonkan Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail.

Parti DAP dan PAS akan membawa perkara ini ke dalam mesyuarat peringkat tertinggi parti masing-masing dan akan membuat keputusan dalam masa terdekat.

DAP dan PAS secara dasarnya menghormati prinsip pencalonan jawatan Menteri Besar Selangor adalah daripada KEADILAN.

Basically, it says that DAP and PAS accept in principle that the nomination of the Menteri Besar of Selangor must come from PKR. In other words, PKR decides who should be the Menteri Besar.

The statement further says that Pakatan Rakyat accepts (but not agree to) the proposal from PKR that the Menteri Besar, Khalid Ibrahim, must be replaced with Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail and that DAP and PAS will bring this matter to their respective parties and will make a decision (whether they agree to the proposal) in the near future.

PKR, in its meeting two days ago, has already approved the proposal. DAP and PAS will now also need to hold their meetings to decide on the same.

This more or less gives us an impression that it is a fait accompli and that the DAP and PAS meetings to also approve the removal of Khalid and to replace him with Dr Wan Azizah is a mere formality to officially approve what has already been unofficially approved.

In other words, Khalid is dead-meat and they now only need to officially pronounce him dead and issue his death certificate.

I received a few messages from various sources that said Khalid is finished and that he is currently just on life support and all they need to do now is to switch off the machine and send Khalid to the morgue.

I am not sure it is that simple and whether it is, as most people seem to believe, already a fait accompli. After all, as they say, a politician is not really dead until they bury him in his grave (Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad being one example). There are still various hurdles they need to clear and there are still moves Khalid can make to frustrate Anwar’s game-plan.

We have already discussed the various hurdles they still need to overcome plus the moves still open to Khalid so we do not need to repeat all that. The point I am trying to make here is that the impression they are giving us is that this matter is already final.

In reality it is not yet final. There are still a few laps left to this race and Khalid is still very much in the race. So we are not quite sure at this point who will be the one to cross the finish line to claim the chequered flag.

Well, they do say in America that the show is not over till the fat lady sings and I am yet to hear any fat lady singing.

Selangor’s Watergate

Why the urgency to remove Khalid? Most think it is because Anwar’s sodomy trial will soon be decided so he needs to settle this matter before then. But what has the sodomy trial got to do with appointing Dr Wan Azizah as the new Menteri Besar of Selangor? Is that going to influence the decision of the court?

Actually this has nothing to do with the sodomy trial. It is more about the water agreements. Selangor is about to settle the water agreements with the federal government and Anwar wants Khalid out before that so that he can scuttle the deal.

And this was confirmed today by no less than PKR’s political strategist Rafizi Ramli himself (READ HERE).

Perangsang (the Selangor State Agency) owns 30% of Splash (Syarikat Pengeluar Air Sungai Selangor Sdn Bhd) while Tan Sri Wan Azmi Wan Hamzah (a Tun Daim Zainuddin protégé) owns 30% and Gamuda Berhad (a conglomerate linked to a certain Royal Family) owns 40%.

Wan Azmi wants Selangor to buy over Splash for RM2.5 billion but its real value is only RM250 million, which is what Selangor is going to pay. Hence it is RM2.25 billion short of what Wan Azmi wants.

Anwar brought Wan Azmi to meet Khalid to try to resolve this matter. Anwar supports the RM2.5 billion claim but Khalid is stubbornly sticking to the figure of RM250 million. And this is why Anwar is mad as hell and wants Khalid out. And this is also why Rafizi said today that once Dr Wan Azizah takes over as Menteri Besar they are going to review the water agreements.

The billion-ringgit question is if they review the water agreements once Dr Wan Azizah takes over how much from that extra RM2.25 billion is going to end up as ‘under-the-table’ money and who are going to be the recipients of these kickbacks?

Do I see a Selangor Watergate looming over the horizon? Or is it going to be a Rafizigate? I suppose we can say there are 2.5 billion reasons why Khalid Ibrahim has to go. And it all has to do with the price Selangor is going to pay for the water concessionaire.