SHAH ALAM, 12 Dec: The Sultan of Selangor denied the rejection of the PKR President, who is also the Kajang Assemblyman Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, as the Chief Minister prior to this based on gender.
Citing an interview with The Star, Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah said that he is not opposed to the fact that the Chief Minister position could be filled by a woman.
Instead, the Sultan said that the rejection was done because Azizah did not meet the benchmark set.
“Some people have been too quick to condemn the palace. They made an issue saying I did not want a woman CM.
“I am not against any woman becoming the MB but my benchmark is that she must be like the Bank Negara governor (Tan Sri Dr Zeti Akhtar Aziz).”
The Chief Minister crisis began when the former Kajang Assemblyman, Lee Chin Cheh, resigned in March this year which led to the by-election.
The PKR de facto leader, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, was initially expected to compete for the seat in his plans to become the Chief Minister to replace Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim, as planned in the Kajang Move.
However, the intention was aborted when Anwar was found guilty by the Court of Appeal in the Sodomy Defamation II case.
That resulted in Anwar’s position being replaced by his wife, Azizah, in the effort to replace Abdul Khalid at that time.
NS
