Anwar `hammered’ by Selangor Palace

• The Selangor Palace today slammed Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim for “misleading the people” by saying Pakatan Rakyat (PR) had only followed convention set by UMNO in nominating one name for the mentri besar post.
• The Malay Mail today reported that private secretary to the Sultan, Datuk Mohamad Munir Bani, said Anwar’s claim was inaccurate and insisted that the Barisan Nasional (BN) governments of the past had always submitted several names through the prime minister.
• “The statement made by Anwar was inaccurate and is misleading the people. What was practiced under the BN administrations was that the names of the candidates for the mentri besar post was presented to the Selangor Sultan by the Prime Minister when granted audience with the Sultan.
• “It is in this event that the prime minister would present a few names deemed suitable for the consent of the Sultan,” Munir said.
• Meanwhile The Star newspaper today stole public attention with a catchy headline `Selangor MB crisis: Get your facts right, Palace tells Anwar’.
• The newspaper wrote, the Selangor palace has rapped Anwar for stating that it was convention to submit only one name for the Selangor Mentri Besar position.
• Munir said the norm was for the Prime Minister to submit several names before a candidate deemed suitable for the role was appointed.
• “In 2008, when the state government fell to the Opposition, the palace wrote to leaders of all the parties to nominate two names for the Selangor Mentri Besar post. When all three parties unanimously nominated Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim, who also fit the criteria as stated under the Selangor constitution, the Sultan agreed to appoint him,” Munir said.
• After the 2013 general election, which again saw PR ruling the state, Munir said he was instructed by Sultan Sharafuddin to write to the three parties to nominate four names for the position of the Mentri Besar.
• He said this was because PKR president Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail had, during an election campaign, said Khalid might not be reappointed as Mentri Besar.
• “Although the palace did receive other nominees for the position, the three party leaders also nominated Khalid to administrate the government for a second time and given that he had good ties with palace officials, the Sultan decided to appoint him again,” the statement said.
• According to Munir, even though it was not the policy of the palace to release such information, the situation was such that a clarification was needed to ease the confusion that had surfaced. He also urged Anwar to get his facts right before issuing any statement on the matter.
• “He (Anwar) is advised not to issue statements that could confuse the people or make the Selangor Sultan look bad,” he said.
• Anwar had said that the practice of submitting only one name as the Mentri Besar candidate had been followed since the country achieved independence in 1957.
• Meanwhile the Malaysian Insider portal today said, BN had submitted multiples names for the menteri besar post to the sultan‎ when it ruled the state, and Anwar's statement which claimed otherwise was "inaccurate", the Selangor palace said today.
• Munir said that the sultan denied Anwar's claim that it had been the convention to submit only one name for the post since Merdeka.
• "Anwar’s statement is inaccurate and confuses the rakyat. What happened during the BN government's administration was that the choices for the Selangor MB post were presented to the Selangor Sultan by the prime minister in a ceremony.
• "‎During the ceremony, the prime minister would present the candidates believed to be qualified, for the sultan's consent. From the list of names, the sultan would choose one candidate to be appointed MB," said Munir.
• Munir added that the PKR de facto leader did not have the correct facts and urged him not to release statements that could confuse the public and taint the sultan's image.
• Last Tuesday, Anwar had sought the sultan's forgiveness for offending him after PKR defied his decree to submit more than two names to the palace.
• But Anwar had insisted that his party had acted according to convention and state law in proposing only Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail for the position.
• He said that Umno, too, had only presented one name for the positions of state assemblyman, parliamentarian, chief minister, menteri besar and prime minister since 1957.
• Former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad‎ appeared to confirm this, saying it had always been convention to submit one name to the state ruler when appointing a MB.
• The ex-prime minister told reporters on September 11 that he had never submitted more than one name, and this had not been a problem with any state rulers.
• On August 26, PKR and DAP said it would nominate Dr Wan Azizah as the sole candidate as this had been PR's practice since 2008, when it proposed only Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim for the top post. The palace confirmed that it had received only Khalid's name from PR in 2008‎.
• Munir said the sultan had consented to PR's unanimous decision to nominate only Khalid in 2008 as he had fulfilled all the criteria to become MB and it was in accordance with the state constitution.
• However, the palace’s letter revealed that more than one name had been received for the menteri besar post in 2013.
• "The party leaders in PR wrote a letter to the Selangor Sultan recommending that Tan Sri Datuk Seri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim be appointed the Selangor MB," said Munir, after PR won Selangor in the 13th general election. The Sultan also received other candidates' names for the Selangor MB post,” he added.
• "Because Abdul Khalid had held the position as Selangor MB before this, and had good relations with the palace and the rakyat of Selangor, the Sultan consented for him to be reappointed as the Selangor MB."
• Munir added that it was not the palace's policy to reveal the names or details. "Because the situation forces the palace to issue a statement, then this matter must be explained.
• "Hence, if Anwar does not have the correct facts, he is advised not to release any statements that could confuse the people and tarnish the image of the Selangor Sultan," said Munir.