When the tables are turned

DEAR Pakatan Rakyat leaders,

When people in Selangor went to the polls and put you in power over the last two terms, they had hoped for an efficient state government which would clean up the abuses, mismanagement and dubious deals that were being exposed quite frequently by the media, and sometimes by your very representatives who were opposition members in the state assembly at that time.

These include the dishing out of monopolies to crony companies, hanky-panky land deals, excessive expenditure, unnecessary field trips for the purpose of studying the management of matters like public toilets, water transportation systems and theme park visits which in no way seemed to have benefitted Selangor and its people.

During your first term, you spent quite a bit of time pointing out the faults of the previous state administration under the Barisan Nasional (BN) via the Selangor Select Committee in Competency, Accountability and Transparency (Selcat) which your administration set up.

These included the mismanagement and administrative follies involving the Wives of Selangor Elected Representatives Welfare Organisation (Balkis), and the misuse of state subsidiary funds for technical visits to Disneyland in Paris and Disneyworld in Florida.

However, some of you seem to take it quite personally when the tables are turned, and are fond of dishing out legal suits to intimidate the media, blaming them for being a BN mouthpiece every time your mismanagements are highlighted.

So much for freedom of the press that you pledged as members of the opposition.

Why is there so much of drama in Selangor?

Why is there so much of clamouring for posts and positions in the state government and state subsidiaries especially when you generously thought of giving jobs to those who qualified for it?

How is it that political party members are now coming into local council full boards under the non-governmental organisation and professionals quota?

Are we really getting the best candidates for the job or are we getting friends you played guli (marbles) and gasing (spinning tops) with in your backyard?

How much better are you at doing this job compared to your predecessors whom you condemned so much?

Sometimes you seem like you are heading down the same road you loathed and lamented about, and at times the route you take seems to be worse.

At least in the past we only had to put up with abuses and dubious practices at the administration level.

But today, we have to put up with the additional headache of watching the drama and power tussle in your component parties leak into, and affect the state administration.

This is definitely not what most of us were hoping from you, and if you do not display or uphold the principals that you espoused and spoke of as the opposition not too long ago, then there is no point in keeping you.

Dear BN assemblymen in Selangor,

Is there a mute button that someone turned-on on your side?

And if and when you decide to speak up, please come up with arguments that are valid and intelligent, not based on petty emotions.

It would help if you can act as a stronger opposition in the state to check on any abuses and question the waste of time and taxpayers money, all because those who administer the state cannot draw a line between party and state matters.

Having covered the Selangor state legislative assembly over three terms it seems like the 12 current BN representatives in the house lack the fire and determination of Sekinchan assemblyman Ng Suee Lim, who was at one time the lone opposition member in the Selangor state legislative assembly (when then Sungai Pinang assemblyman Datuk Teng Chang Khim was suspended from the house for throwing a copy of the standing orders into a waste paper basket in protest).

Please learn a thing or two from Ng who managed to make an impact and raise pertinent questions in and outside of the assembly despite being the sole opposition member.

There is much for you to raise and question on the direction the current state administration is headed towards.

If all else fails, and if your opponents slips up and loses the state in the next general election, then do feel free to use the Selcat that they set up.

We would love to hear all about any mismanagement, dubious appointments and abuses that may have occurred or may be in the midst of happening.