Selcat inquiry sparks DOs’ revolt
(The Malaysian Insider) SHAH ALAM, Sept 19 – A Selangor district officer has accused state watchdog Selcat of political opportunism and shaming him in an inquiry into misused state allocations, getting PAS’s Datuk Hasan Ali today on his side and touching off more turbulence within the Pakatan Rakyat government.
Apart from the claim, Klang District Officer (DO) Bakhtiar Husin and a few other counterparts also boycotted the state government’s Malaysia Day celebrations last Wednesday.
But instead of nipping the open revolt in the bud, Selangor Mentri Besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim and other executive councillors met the DOs on Thursday to listen to their “grouses”, effectively undermining the select committee on competency, accountability and transparency (Selcat), which was created and empowered by the legislative assembly.
Hasan poured oil into the fire today by describing Selcat “bullying officers” in comments made to the Sinar Harian tabloid, which had carried Bakhtiar’s complaints.
During his testimony on Sept 9, the DO and his officers were questioned about how more than RM4 million worth of annual allocation for use by Barisan Nasional (BN) assemblymen in constituencies within the district was used, within the first two months of 2008.
Bakthiar admitted applications for allocations were fast-tracked for approval due to the general elections “to create an impact” as the money was needed to pay for small development projects and community programmes,
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