PAS was offered Selangor MB post at early stage - Pak Lah

sun2surf | Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said PAS was offered the position of Selangor Mentri Besar at the early stage of the Umno-PAS when the state government has yet to be formed.

He said there was nothing wrong with making such an offer as during that time, Umno felt it has garnered the highest number of votes during the general election, therefore it has the right to negotiate with any parties to form the government.

"At that time, Umno held that it has a right to seek the opportunity to form the government and to negotiate with any parties to form the government. It was in that process that it came up. It was in that kind of argument.

"There was nothing wrong with it. There was nothing bad about it because the government has yet to be formed and Umno felt that the party with the highest number of votes has the right to seek cooperation, alliance or coalition with any political parties," he said Friday (July 25).

Abdullah said Umno had felt that Barisan Nasional (BN), as the coalition with the biggest number of votes, should lead the Selangor government because opposition’s Pakatan Rakyat was not a formal registered party like BN.

"If they (BN) had enough votes, they were able to present to the Sultan of Selangor, (saying) look, we have enough number of votes to form the government. But it never happen," he said.

Asked whether there is a likelihood of cooperation in terms of politic with PAS rather than on religion and unity only, he said: "I do not wish to make any kinds of prediction on what can happen in future." ... selanjutnya.