Since when Anwar Ibrahim became the Penang CM?

The very controversial DCM I Fairus has officially resigned on April 8. So, the Chief Minister felt obliged to issue this press statement:

Press Statement by Penang Chief Minister, Lim Guan Eng in Georgetown, Penang on 8 April 2009

The Penang State Exco has decided to let Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng decide on the position of Deputy Chief Minister I. This appointment is the prerogative of the Penang Chief Minister who will consult with all relevant parties.

The Penang Chief Minister will held a Press Conference at 11.30am tomorrow on this matter. YB Mohammad Fairus resignation as Deputy Chief Minister I takes effect immediately today and is no longer on Exco member. However YB Mohammad Fairus still retains all privileges as Penang PR ADUN.

Lim Guan Eng

If you notice, it is written that "This appointment is the prerogative of the Penang Chief Minister who will consult with all relevant parties."

Anyone with any sense at all will take it to mean that it is the prerogative of the Penang chief Minister to decide on the appointment of the new DCM I. Right?

Right.

Besides, the CM has been given the power by the exco to decide on who becomes the new DCM I.

So, this means, the CM has the power and the right to decide on who becomes the new DCM I.

Which leads me to this puzzling bit of news:

GEORGE TOWN: PKR de facto leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim will nominate a candidate from the party for the post of Penang Deputy Chief Minister (I) within a week, Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng said.

He said although it was his prerogative to appoint the candidate to replace Mohammad Fairus Khairuddin, he would wait for Anwar to name the party’s nominee.

“Since the post belongs to a Malay PKR state assemblyman, it is only right for PKR to identify the candidate.

[Staronline]

Let me get this straight. The CM decides to push aside his responsibility and let Anwar decide on who to be the next DCM I. Does this mean that the CM has no power at all to decide who he wants to appoint as the DCM I?

Sure, this is a PR state government and the DCM I is the PKR's post. But we are talking about the state government here, not some PKR party post. If it is a PKR party post, the CM has no right to intervene.

But this is a state government post and who is Anwar in the Penang state government for him to decide on the DCM I post?

This goes to show that there is obviously some sense of disunity within the PR coalition. Obviously, the DAP fellas (as in the Penang CM) steer themselves clear away from PKR and let PKR deal with their own problems. And obviously, PKR has kept a distance from DAP too.

And not only that, why did the CM's prerogative to appoint his DCM I became a PKR leader's prerogative?

As far as I know, Anwar is not the Penang CM. He is not part of the Penang state government. In fact, he has no say whatsoever in how the Penang state government was run. And yet, he was suddenly given the power to decide on who will become the second top guy in the state government and not only that, he was also the one to make the announcement too.

So, why did the exco give the CM power to decide on the DCM I's post when obviously he has no such power to do so? Why not from the start just say it is all up to Anwar and be done with it instead of issuing that kind of press statement to say it is the CM's prerogative when clearly it is not?

Whatever it is, it is obvious that the CM chose to do this to distance himself from whatever decision that PKR makes, which goes to show that PR still has a lot to work on before they could all work together smoothly.