KUALA LUMPUR: Allegations have emerged of massive corruption in the Pakatan Harapan states of Penang and Selangor, despite PKR president Datin Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail saying that the two states enjoy good governance and neither corruption, nepotism nor cronyism.
Blogger Raja Petra Kamaruddin, in a posting on the Malaysia Today website, said Wan Azizah, in an interview with Al-Jazeera, had been asked what alternatives and coherent vision was Pakatan Harapan offering the voters.
Wan Azizah had said that Selangor was a showcase of how a Menteri Besar from PKR has ruled the richest state in Malaysia well, “with a surplus budget, free water, and healthcare benefits”, and that in Penang, where she came from, how Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng has done Penang a lot of good.
However, Raja Petra said that until today, the allegations of corruption in these two states remained.
“In fact, Selangor Menteri Besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim was removed and replaced with Datuk Seri Azmin Ali due to allegations of corruption and mismanagement of state resources, while Guan Eng, who is Penang Chief Minister, is awaiting trial on charges of corruption.
“Also, have not many wives and children of Pakatan leaders also been given party positions and positions in the state governments? Anwar’s, Kit Siang’s and Karpal Singh’s families are just three examples of political dynasties,” he said.
Calling Wan Azizah’s interview a "disaster", Raja Petra said it not only revealed the weaknesses in PKR and Pakatan Harapan, but also how weak Wan Azizah herself is.
“She evaded answering many questions directly and veered off course when she had no answers. It shows she has absolutely no direction and is merely the proxy who makes no decisions but just carries out the decisions of others.
“She also contradicted not only what she said but what her party and Pakatan Harapan have been saying,” he said, adding that the interview was one more nail in Pakatan’s coffin.
Among the questions that she had evaded or veered off course were on why she had previously condemned former premier Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad but was now working with him; on whether Dr Mahathir had ever apologised for jailing Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim on what can be considered trumped up and politically motivated sodomy charges, and the issue of Hudud.
“When asked whether she supported it, she had said as a Muslim, yes, but made a most confusing statement that Hudud will not be implemented unless there is justice.
“She refuses to say ‘yes’ she supports Hudud or ‘no’ she does not support Hudud, echoing what Anwar said two years ago when asked the same question (which is he supports Hudud but the implementation needs to first be studied),” he said.
Raja Petra said Wan Azizah did not deny that she would become a proxy Prime Minister, and that if she becomes Prime Minister it would only be to warm the seat for Anwar, former Kedah Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Mukhriz Mahathir, or someone else.
He said she admitted she is a seat-warmer and that she will resign once Anwar is able to take over and says “there is nothing wrong with that”.