Excos cry foul over illegal sacking

PETALING JAYA: Senior Exco member Datuk Teng Chang Khim said the termination of six PKR and DAP executive counsillors, himself included, by Selangor Menteri Besar Khalid Ibrahim contravenes Article 53 of the Selangor state constitution.

According to Teng, since state Excos are appointed by the Sultan of Selangor upon the advice of the Menteri Besar, the same should be observed when state Excos are terminated.

“The termination or sacking of state Excos can only be carried out by the Sultan of Selangor.

That being the case, Teng said he and the other sacked Excos doubted Khalid had obtained the Sultan’s consent as he claimed in the official termination letter to them.

As far as they knew, Khalid never left his office all day.

“In the letter we received from the Menteri Besar, Khalid states that the Sultan had given his consent to terminate six Excos in Selangor,” Teng explained to a packed room of reporters at the PKR headquarters.

Teng says Khalid left his ofice at 6 p.m. to attend a press conference at SUK scheduled for some time after 6 p.m.

“However, we received our letters from the Menteri Besar before 6 p.m.

“This means Khalid is not giving us the whole picture. Khalid has yet to seek the Sultan’s advice regarding the termination of the six Excos,” he explains.

That being the case, Teng said the terminations were illegal.

Teng also said Selangor was a Pakatan-led state and since Khalid himself was expelled from PKR, he no longer had the authority to terminate Excos from Pakatan.

“Khalid is creating a world record here as no democracy we know has ever witnessed a leader terminate executive councillors in his state government after he himself is expelled from his own party.

“For this reason, all the sacked Excos will continue to carry out their duties as usual,” Teng said.

Present at the press conference were all the sacked Excos with the exception of Rodziah who is abroad.