Aide: When Khalid says he will not contest, he means it

KLANG: Former Selangor mentri besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim will not be contesting in the coming general election.

His longtime aide Faekah Husin said Khalid would not reverse his decision on the matter.

“Tan Sri is not like most politicians who say things they don’t mean. When he says he is not interested in contesting, he means it,” Faekah said when contacted.

She was responding to reports that quoted Selangor PAS commissioner Sallehen Mukhyi as saying that the Islamist party was offering Khalid a state seat without any conditions attached.

On Khalid’s statement that he would be helping PAS and Umno in the upcoming polls, Faekah said Khalid would help any party that had the people’s interest at heart.

“In this case, Tan Sri’s focus is on water and if Umno can continue providing free water as well as conclude the state’s water restructuring exercise, he will support it,” said Faekah.

She said that as far as Khalid was concerned, incumbent mentri besar Datuk Seri Azmin Ali had failed to address the state’s water woes by not concluding the exercise.

Faekah added that Khalid would help PAS out of gratitude for not forsaking him during the 2014 mentri besar crisis in which he was ousted and replaced by Azmin.

During that chaotic time, all the PKR and DAP executive councillors did not attend any of the meetings called by Khalid while the four PAS executive councillors then continued to perform their duties.

Khalid said in his Facebook page yesterday it was his right to support whoever he wanted to.

“What is clear is that I do not support YB Gombak (Gombak MP Datuk Seri Azmin Ali) because he will cause the people of Selangor to lose more than RM2bil in the Selangor water restructuring issue,” he wrote.

At a separate event, Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia chairman Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad did not dismiss the possibility of his son and party deputy president Datuk Seri Mukhriz Mahathir contesting a state seat in Selangor.