By Charles Santiago, MP for Klang

Much of the current mess in Selangor boils down to one man. And he is crafty, egoistic, and sorely lacking in principles. He is a sell-out. And unfortunately for Malaysians and especially the people of Selangor, Khalid Ibrahim has found allies in the equally cunning Islamist party, PAS and UMNO.

By the time I write this, Khalid’s image and reputation are in tatters – shredded to bits by his arrogance and betrayal of a party and coalition that made him a Menteri Besar in the first place.

If Khalid had an ounce of conscience he would have quit the top post in Selangor because he was told to do so by the Party Keadilan Rakyat (PKR). The rakyat voted for a Pakatan Rakyat government at the last general election and PKR together with Pakatan Rakyat appointed Khalid to head Selangor. So when the party wants him to go, he should have thrown in the towel.
But in his haste to continue spewing stupidity, Khalid has made several mistakes.

Firstly, he lied to the Selangor Sultan and the people. On Monday, Khalid informed the palace that he enjoys the support of the state assembly and therefore should continue as the Menteri Besar, despite being sacked as a PKR member.

However, the very next day, he sacks six exco members from PKR and the Democratic Action Party (DAP), saying they were working against the interest of the state government.

So clearly, he misrepresented himself to the Sultan.

If this is not enough, Khalid is reported to have said that there is no such thing as a Pakatan Rakyat government in Selangor as the Opposition Coalition is yet to be registered.

Does this mean Khalid was an illegal Menteri Besar in Selangor over the last six years? And how legitimate is his position now?

While we are grappling to come to terms with Khalid’s betrayal, we have PAS dithering to make a concrete decision to stick with the Pakatan Rakyat, which helped the Islamist party to win more seats at the last two general polls.

Some PAS leaders have hinted their readiness to work with UMNO. Others have been caught red-handed through leaked chats, which reveal not just discussions about collaborating with UMNO but also racist rants.

And PAS still insists on its pre-planned meeting on Sunday to discuss whether they would work with Khalid or stick with Pakatan Rakyat. With all the mess happening in Selangor, PAS’ adamance is suspect.

To drive the wariness even deeper, PAS exco members attended the routine exco meeting with Khalid on Wednesday despite requests from ‘sacked’ exco member and leaders of PKR and DAP to stay away.

And reasons given by PAS leaders supporting the attendance of the exco members is naïve and utterly nonsensical. I am being kind here.

The situation is grave. We have an unscrupulous megalomaniac who would do anything to hold on to his chair at the Selangor secretariat.

Khalid has not clearly said he would not appoint UMNO members to the state exco. And PAS’ chest-thumping pledge to quit if Khalid does so must be taken with a pinch of salt.

To put it in a nutshell – Khalid has the backing of the palace and UMNO/BN and as this time with the tacit approval of PAS. He has shown his rage by arbitrarily sacking DAP and PKR exco members. He is prepared to stoop lower to hang on to power.

So PAS needs to stop pussyfooting. It needs to make a decision as to whether it wants to stay with Pakatan Rakyat. We, the rakyat, need to know where PAS’ loyalty lies.

And I would like to throw a challenge at Khalid – face the state assembly in a vote of confidence instead of playing a dirty game of back door deals.

But for now, Khalid has completely betrayed the electorate.