Phahrolrazi Mohd Zawawi and Ismail Salleh will accept their nominations as exco members, which will likely cool down the leadership crisis in Kedah PAS.

NONEAt a press conference today, Phahrolrazi (left) said he and his colleague were satisfied because of the PAS central committee had established a steering committee as an oversight mechanism for party’s exco members.

Phahrolrazi said that he and Ismail accepted their nominations as exco members with an open heart and said they have achieved their objectives.

He said that with the steering committee, Menteri Besar Azizan Abdul Razak will be now subject to scrutiny by the party leaders.

''There was once such a committee for Kelantan. I am surprised we in Kedah didn’t have it earlier,” he said.

This morning the PAS central committee announced that its meeting in Alor Setar on Saturday had decided to maintain the status quo, by retaining Azizan as Kedah MB.

PAS secretary-general Mustafa Ali said the two dissenting exco members must return to their positions.

The meeting had also agreed to set up a steering committee consisting of PAS central leadership members to “observe, monitor and assist” states that are led by PAS and have PAS members in the top administration.

Phahrlolrazi, whose exco term expires on March 7, said that never before in history has the PAS central shown such seriousness in dealing with the problems in the Kedah administration.

He added that several individuals and parties had raised such issues with the party’s central committee but “but they never received much attention”.

The state PAS deputy commissioner said the decision to set up the steering committee by the central leadership was most important.

He stressed that this would mean that disgruntled exco members would have a channel to voice out their dissatisfaction about how Kedah is administered.

About the members of the committee, Phahrolrazi said he does not know who would be in it.

But was confident that it would be handled by the PAS central leadership with the cooperation of state leaders.

‘Duty of the committee is beyond politics’

The duty of the committee was beyond politics and has mostly to do with the Kedah governance.

In the eyes of the law, the menteri besar is the chief executive of the state,  but politically, he answers to the party’s leadership.

“The menteri besar used to have too much power and was also very dominant. At times, his decision goes against the central leadership, which will not happen if we have a committee to monitor the situation in Kedah,” he told reporters.

“The committee can also look into the behaviour of state excos and government officials, and take action if there were incidences of wrongdoing,” he added.

When asked if this would embarrass Azizan, Phahrolrazi replied, “It is up to you (media) to interpret the situation”.

On whether his conditions were met by the party’s leadership, Phahrolrazi said what was more important was that his goals were met. However, he declined to divulged details about what they were.

“We cannot be too rigid in our conditions. It changes as the situation progresses or else there would be no point in negotiations,” he added.

On whether the Pakatan Rakyat leadership were asked to intervene in the matter, Phahrolrazi said that this had never happened.

“We managed to contain the problem and resolved it within our party.”

Meanwhile, Phahrolrazi said he was awaiting the official appointment from Azizan for the state exco post.

NONEHe added that his earlier meeting with Azizan during the negotiation with PAS top leaders was “amicable”.

“It’s not personal. It is related to Kedah’s administration,” he said, adding, “We discussed harmoniously, and everything was based on facts.”

Ismail (right), who remained quiet during the press conference, finally said he had now “found strength” to face the enemy, Umno, in the coming elections.

“God willing, we can beat Umno,” he said.


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