Selangor Speaker Teng says he issued support letters for companies

(The Star) – Selangor Speaker Teng Chang Khim said he, too, had issued support letters to companies to get jobs from the Klang Municipal Council (MPK).

However, the letters stipulated that MPK’s terms and conditions must be adhered to, Teng said.

“I issued the letters during the interim period after Pakatan Rakyat took over the state government in 2008, when no councilors had been sworn in yet,” he said when contacted Wedneday.

He said he issued the letters to recommend companies to undertake clean-up jobs in his Sungai Pinang state assembly constituency.

He said MPK, like other local councils, had a pool of regular contractors who received jobs.

“When we took over, we invited more contractors to come in and offer their services, and these new companies were given support letters to be included in MPK’s list,” said Teng.

He said MPK required the letters before the new contractors were included in its list.

“These support letters are not meant for specific projects as they did not guarantee the companies got contracts,” said Teng.

Meanwhile, Selangor Mentri Besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim announced earlier in the day that troubled former Selangor DAP organising secretary Tee Kim Hock was still a Klang councilor, even though his party had expelled him.

“No decision has been made as I am still waiting for the Selangor audit report,” said Khalid after chairing the weekly exco meeting.

Tee landed in trouble for allegedly issuing support letters using exco member Ronnie Liu’s letterhead to get his son’s company a contract with MPK.

Liu has since claimed he did not know his official letterhead had been used by Tee.

Khalid said Tee was considered as being on leave now.

He added that it was common to issue support letters, and that in the past, such letters indicated the power MPs and ministers wielded.

However, he said the Pakatan Rakyat government’s focus was on welfare-related matters when issuing support letters.