INTERVIEW A statewide roadshow and the 91-page dossier detailing how Selangor Menteri Besar Abdul Khalid Ibrahim’s integrity was allegedly compromised is not a smear campaign, stressed PKR president Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail.
This is because the information provided is “factual” and not fabricated.
“I never like to be part of this, what you call a smear campaign. I think it is just an explanation campaign (on) why we had to do this painful decision.
“I think the rakyat, the voters, deserved to be given this information. I don’t want to call it a smear campaign; it is not a smear campaign. It is factual.
“We lay down the facts. A smear is what BN has been doing all this while,” she said in an exclusive interview withMalaysiakini.
Wan Azizah is no stranger to smear campaigns. Since her husband and now de facto PKR leader Anwar Ibrahim’s incarceration for sodomy and corruption in 1998, Wan Azizah and her family of eight have endured never-ending mudslinging.
The sodomy conviction was eventually overturned, but more than a decade later, Anwar was again convicted of yet another case of sodomy after challenging what he claims to be trumped-up charges at the Court of Appeal in February.
It is the PKR power couple’s intimate experience of the ugly side of politics which has made political observers wonder how they could do the same to another politician, especially Khalid whom Wan Azizah described in the interview as a “family friend”.
‘Khalid forced party's hand’
Similarly, the MB’s close advisor and former political secretary Faekah Husin was Wan Azizah’s aide for many years.
“It’s probably that when you are in the position of power, people change,” she said of Khalid and Faekah.
“I mean I don’t have executive power and neither does Anwar. (As) the leader of the opposition, you have an office, a few things but not power...,” said Wan Azizah, who was dressed in black to observe the Day of Mourning for MH17 victims.
With a copy of the Quran laid on her table as she speaks toMalaysiakini in her sparse office at the PKR headquarters in Petaling Jaya, Wan Azizah said Khalid “forced (the party’s) hand”.
She said the problem with Khalid was a festering one - “it was a series of issues” - which built up, and not just the Bank Islam settlement which happened after PKR’s Kajang assemblyperson Lee Chin Cheh resigned, triggering the Kajang Move.
“At first, it was the difficulty that the MB is not reporting to the party and Pakatan. We could still give-and-take and discuss it. Then it became very difficult...”
She said decisions made at party meetings with Khalid were not carried out, and later the MB failed to attend such meetings.
“And it was difficult to get an appointment to see him... what can we do? You are forcing our hand,” she said.
Khalid has already initiated legal action over the dossier, which among others raises suspicion over the circumstances of the out-of-court settlement for his RM67 million loan dispute with Bank Islam.
His aide had also lodged a report with the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), seeking an investigation on the matter so that the MB can be cleared.
Hope Khalid will keep his word
Asked on this, Wan Azizah places her entire trust in PKR strategic director Rafizi Ramli, the architect of Kajang Move.
She said that Rafizi’s decision not to bring the matter to MACC is also justifiable as despite the anti-graft’s claim of non-partisanship, it is not likely to take up the case due to political reasons.
“Rafizi, me, Anwar, we have been victims of slander and we don’t want to do that (go to MACC). I don’t think we should (do so) because it’s a political move,” she said.
“In the end, when history recalls... when we knew something was going wrong, we didn’t just sit by. We have to do something,” she said.
According to Wan Azizah, in meetings with Khalid prior to the Kajang Move in February, the MB had agreed to resign to give way to Anwar to take over.
When Anwar was convicted and thus effectively disqualifying him from becoming a candidate, Wan Azizah stood in the Kajang by-election in his place, and is now making a bid for MB.
In the best case scenario, she said, Khalid would keep to his word and quit.
But the MB’s actions - including sacking PKR and DAP executive councillors citing disloyalty - shows he is doing anything but.
This, along with the Bank Islam settlement, too, seems to have confirmed PKR’s fears.
“Because we did not want to (drag things into the public), we have to give people the benefit of the doubt...
“(But) then it (the Bank Islam settlement) happened fully, so it (the Kajang Move) had to happen.”
This is because the information provided is “factual” and not fabricated.
“I never like to be part of this, what you call a smear campaign. I think it is just an explanation campaign (on) why we had to do this painful decision.
“I think the rakyat, the voters, deserved to be given this information. I don’t want to call it a smear campaign; it is not a smear campaign. It is factual.“We lay down the facts. A smear is what BN has been doing all this while,” she said in an exclusive interview withMalaysiakini.
Wan Azizah is no stranger to smear campaigns. Since her husband and now de facto PKR leader Anwar Ibrahim’s incarceration for sodomy and corruption in 1998, Wan Azizah and her family of eight have endured never-ending mudslinging.
The sodomy conviction was eventually overturned, but more than a decade later, Anwar was again convicted of yet another case of sodomy after challenging what he claims to be trumped-up charges at the Court of Appeal in February.
It is the PKR power couple’s intimate experience of the ugly side of politics which has made political observers wonder how they could do the same to another politician, especially Khalid whom Wan Azizah described in the interview as a “family friend”.
‘Khalid forced party's hand’
Similarly, the MB’s close advisor and former political secretary Faekah Husin was Wan Azizah’s aide for many years.
“It’s probably that when you are in the position of power, people change,” she said of Khalid and Faekah.
“I mean I don’t have executive power and neither does Anwar. (As) the leader of the opposition, you have an office, a few things but not power...,” said Wan Azizah, who was dressed in black to observe the Day of Mourning for MH17 victims.With a copy of the Quran laid on her table as she speaks toMalaysiakini in her sparse office at the PKR headquarters in Petaling Jaya, Wan Azizah said Khalid “forced (the party’s) hand”.
She said the problem with Khalid was a festering one - “it was a series of issues” - which built up, and not just the Bank Islam settlement which happened after PKR’s Kajang assemblyperson Lee Chin Cheh resigned, triggering the Kajang Move.
“At first, it was the difficulty that the MB is not reporting to the party and Pakatan. We could still give-and-take and discuss it. Then it became very difficult...”
She said decisions made at party meetings with Khalid were not carried out, and later the MB failed to attend such meetings.
“And it was difficult to get an appointment to see him... what can we do? You are forcing our hand,” she said.
Khalid has already initiated legal action over the dossier, which among others raises suspicion over the circumstances of the out-of-court settlement for his RM67 million loan dispute with Bank Islam.
His aide had also lodged a report with the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), seeking an investigation on the matter so that the MB can be cleared.
Hope Khalid will keep his word
Asked on this, Wan Azizah places her entire trust in PKR strategic director Rafizi Ramli, the architect of Kajang Move.
She said that Rafizi’s decision not to bring the matter to MACC is also justifiable as despite the anti-graft’s claim of non-partisanship, it is not likely to take up the case due to political reasons.
“Rafizi, me, Anwar, we have been victims of slander and we don’t want to do that (go to MACC). I don’t think we should (do so) because it’s a political move,” she said.
“In the end, when history recalls... when we knew something was going wrong, we didn’t just sit by. We have to do something,” she said.According to Wan Azizah, in meetings with Khalid prior to the Kajang Move in February, the MB had agreed to resign to give way to Anwar to take over.
When Anwar was convicted and thus effectively disqualifying him from becoming a candidate, Wan Azizah stood in the Kajang by-election in his place, and is now making a bid for MB.
In the best case scenario, she said, Khalid would keep to his word and quit.
But the MB’s actions - including sacking PKR and DAP executive councillors citing disloyalty - shows he is doing anything but.
This, along with the Bank Islam settlement, too, seems to have confirmed PKR’s fears.
“Because we did not want to (drag things into the public), we have to give people the benefit of the doubt...
“(But) then it (the Bank Islam settlement) happened fully, so it (the Kajang Move) had to happen.”
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