KLANG: Parti Keadilan Rakyat vice-president Azmin Ali has resigned as a director in the Selangor State Development Corporation (PKNS) over what is believed to be a disagreement with Selangor Menteri Besar Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim.
His resignation comes barely 12 hours after Khalid appointed a new political secretary and the candidate is believed to be the crux of the problem.
It is learned that Azmin sent in his resignation letter in the afternoon to Khalid’s office.
His resignation is believed to be a show of protest over Khalid’s appointment of Faekah Hussin as his new political secretary replacing Seri Setia assemblyman Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad.
Nik Nazmi will now head the party’s communication department, replacing Jonson Chong.
While certain quarters say that the resignation was due to the manner Khalid appointed Faekah, it is believed that Azmin may have wanted someone else in that position.
Faekah is also the political secretary to PKR president Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ahmad. The 45-year-old is a University Malaya law graduate and co-founded the legal firm Faekah & Choung. She became Wan Azizah’s political secretary in 2003 and was also a member of the Wanita PKR leadership council from 2001 to 2004. She was appointed information chief for Wanita PKR Selangor in 2000 and also held the post of treasurer for Wanita PKR Negri Sembilan. In 2005, Faekah was made secretary of PKR Selangor under Khalid.
Her appointment was announced only on Tuesday night and it is understood the decision was made by Khalid only hours earlier.
It is learned that there were other candidates as well but Khalid used his prerogative as the Menteri Besar to make the final decision.
This did not go down well with certain quarters in the party.
There was also talk that Nik Nazmi was shipped out after a fall-out with Khalid but the former denied this in his farewell speech on Tuesday night.
The rift between Khalid and Azmin had been simmering over the past year and Azmin had attacked Khalid’s leadership several times.
It is said that Azmin had unsuccessfully tried to get the party to remove Khalid as the Menteri Besar.
Azmin, who is the Bukit Antarabangsa assemblyman and Gombak MP, had also attacked Khalid over the sand mining industry in the State.
It is learned that party adviser Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim had to step in and defuse the situation several times but relations between the two remain touchy.
Efforts to reach Azmin for comments were unsuccessful.
Read more: PKR VP resigns as PKNS director http://www.nst.com.my/nst/articles/PKRVPresignsasPKNSdirector/Article/#ixzz0rgu65wwM
