SHAH ALAM, 4 May 2009: Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) will give Internal Security Act detainee M Manoharan time whether to vacate his Kota Alam Shah seat, said the party’s Selangor liaison chief Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim.
PKR and PAS would not intervene in the decision because Manoharan was a state assemblyperson from DAP, he said here today.
Manoharan said in a statement released by his wife, S Pushpaneela, on 2 May that he was contemplating vacating the seat and would make an official announcement after meeting DAP chairperson Karpal Singh at the Kamunting detention camp in Taiping, where he is held, on 19 May.
PKR, PAS and DAP are members of the coalition that governs Selangor where Khalid is Menteri Besar.
The coalition was ready for the by-election should Manoharan decide to resign, said Khalid after the launch of the Selangor Orang Asli Land Action Body (BBTOAS).
On the action body, he said it comprised 13 Orang Asli people representing different tribes and districts in Selangor.
Its main objective is to protect the interests of the Orang Asli particularly in the aspects of settlement and land allocation besides development projects to be carried on their lands.
With BBTOAS, the state government through the Selangor Land Action Body could easily solve land problems faced by the Orang Asli including the issue of compensation when their lands were acquired for development, Khalid said.
BBTOAS’s roles would not overlap with those of the Orang Asli Affairs Department (JHEOA), he said.
He also hoped the action body would come up with proposals on Orang Asli lands so that it could be tabled at the State legislative assembly that would sit either in June or July.
There are about 15,000 Orang Asli people in Selangor and the majority of them live in Kuala Langat and Sepang. Most of them are from the Temuan and Mahmeri tribes. — Bernama
