Selangor Palace says new MB ‘constitutionally appointed’

SHAH ALAM: The Selangor Palace said yesterday the appointment of Amirudin Shari as the new menteri besar of Selangor was made in accordance with the Constitution of Selangor 1959.

According to a statement in the Facebook account of the Selangor Royal Office, PKR president Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail had, in a letter to the Sultan of Selangor on June 7, nominated three people including Amirudin, the assemblyman for Sungai Tua, to succeed Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali as the menteri besar.

“In the letter, Dr Wan Azizahs ought the consent of His Royal Highness to select any of the candidates which His Royal Highness felt was eligible in accordance with the Constitution of Selangor to be sworn in as the menteri besar.

“After consideration and getting the advice of (Datuk Seri) Mohamed Azmin, His Royal Highness consented to the appointment of one of the nominated candidates, namely Amirudin, the assemblyman for Sungai Tua, as the Menteri Besar of Selangor for the 14th term (of the State Legislative Assembly),” the statement said.

Amirudin was sworn in as the 16th Menteri Besar of Selangor before the Sultan of Selangor at Istana Alam Shah in Klang.

He succeeded Mohamed Azmin who had been appointed as the Minister for Economic Affairs in the Federal Cabinet.

The statement said that Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah had taken note of the prerequisites in the Constitution of Selangor whereby His Royal Highness has to appoint as the Menteri Besar a state assemblyman who, in his opinion, commands the majority support and must be a Malay and a Muslim.

Ijok assemblyman Dr I dr is Ah mad of PKR had reportedly claimed that he was the only candidate preferred by the four component parties of Pakatan Harapan as the menteri besar and that Amirudin only had the blessings of Mohamed Azmin.

The statement also dismissed an allegation by Dr Idris that even Mohamed Azmin’s appointment as the menteri besar on May 11 did not have the blessings of Pakatan Harapan.

It said that prior to Mohamed Azmin’s appointment, the heads of the Pakatan Harapan component parties wrote to His Royal Highness nominating Mohamed Azmin as the candidate for menteri besar.

The nomination was made based on the fact that Mohamed Azmin had been the menteri besar previously and had discharged his duties with full dedication and enabled the Pakatan Harapan to win more seats in the state in the general election, it added.

“As such, it is not correct for the Ijok assemblyman to say that he was nominated for the post of Selangor menteri besar. The Selangor Palace always adheres to the provisions of the law in any of its actions and does not at all interfere in issues associated with politics,” it said.