KUALA LUMPUR: PAS secretary-general Datuk Mustafa Ali denied claims that he had invited beleaguered Selangor Menteri Besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim to join the Islamic party during a visit to the latter’s home on Saturday night.
Mustafa said he and Pas president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang had merely paid a courtesy visit to Khalid’s residence and had no ulterior motives.
“We went to his house because of the fasting month. After all, Khalid had not met Hadi for a long time,” he told reporters during a press conference here today.
Mustafa said the discussion would have lasted for several hours if he and Abdul Hadi wanted to persuade Khalid to join Pas.
“If we wanted to talk to Khalid about him joining Pas, it would have taken many hours. However, we only met him at 11pm (on Saturday night) after ‘tarawikh’ prayers,” he said.
Speculation of Khalid joining the Islamic party was rife after photographs of him sitting together with the two Pas bigwigs were shared on social media.
A few days earlier, Khalid was photographed at a ‘buka puasa’ event with Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, leading to speculation that he was leaving PKR and joining Umno.
On Sunday, Khalid denied rumours he was joining either party.
Meanwhile, Mustafa said Pas would respect and adhere to any decision by the opposition coalition’s top leadership on resolving the Selangor leadership crisis.
He said the Pakatan’s top leaders would meet before the Hari Raya Aidilfitri celebrations to discuss the matter.
Mustafa said Pakatan’s presidential council, the loose coalition’s highest decision-making body, would come up with a solution to resolve the issue surrounding Khalid’s position as Selangor MB.
“Whatever the issue is, we (PKR, Pas, and DAP) must solve it together. I don’t want to set a timeframe on when the matter will be eventually resolved, but the meeting must take place before any action is taken,” he said.
Mustafa said although no date has been set for the next meeting between the opposition leaders, the issue would be discussed at length so that an amicable solution would be found.
On a related matter, PKR strategic director Rafizi Ramli denied any involvement in a text message claiming that Khalid would have an audience with the Sultan of Selangor to tender his resignation.
On Sunday, an individual claiming to be a Kapar PKR member, lodged a police report in Klang over a text message purportedly penned by Rafizi. The individual had claimed that message was libellous in nature.
Meanwhile, Mustafa, who is a member of the opposition Secretary Council, urged the Malaysian government to halt all discussions on the Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) with the United States.
“The discussions on TPPA with the US must stop as a show of protest against the current assault on Gaza by the Israeli military. We also request a special parliamentary sitting to discuss the ongoing crisis,” he said.
Mustafa said a strong message of protest must be sent to the United States as the country was a strong supporter of Israel.
“The Malaysian government must also recall the Malaysian ambassador to the United States (Datuk Dr Awang Adek Hussin) back to the country. This will serve as the strongest show of protest against the atrocities committed in Gaza.”
On the shootout between Malaysian police officers and gunmen in Pulau Mabul recently, Mustafa urged Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak to establish a Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) to review the effectiveness of the Eastern Sabah Security Command.