Khalid’s blunders costly for his polls chances?
If Khalid’s management of the water issue is any indication, he should not be the party’s deputy president
Selena Tay, FMT
The fight for the PKR deputy president’s post promises to be intense and exciting. The battle will be mainly between PKR’s Selangor Menteri Besar, Khalid Ibrahim and the current deputy president, Azmin Ali who will be defending his post. The rest of the contenders do not seem to have much clout.
Before mid-February this year, Khalid’s star seems to be shining brightly as he has administered Selangor well. But then came the water crisis in Balakong in mid-February followed by the water ration in quite a many areas in KL and Selangor affecting 6.7 million people which is definitely unacceptable because Selangor has been proclaimed as a developed state.
The excuse that the dry weather has caused the dams’ water level to go down is a weak excuse as Khalid should have anticipated the problem and instructed the relevant water authorities to act upon it by taking preventive action earlier. Perhaps if the water ration had been done only every Monday and Tuesday sometime last year, it would have lessened the problem somewhat.
Be that as it may, the intense rationing announced by Khalid has certainly shown him up as an uncaring administrator because it was he who had announced the two days on and two days off water rationing formula.
His inefficiency is shown in this water issue. Going by this premise, it therefore follows that he will also not be a good party administrator because it means that he is not adept in anticipating problems and coming up with solutions.
A deputy president of any political party is the one who is the president’s biggest help in running the party. If Khalid can make sudden decisions such as in the signing of the water MOU (Memorandum Of Transfer) with the federal government, then it is possible that he will also make sudden decisions pertaining to party policies if he becomes the deputy president.
A major plus point for Khalid, however, is that his thrifty management has enabled the state coffers earnings to swell to RM2.9 billion but it is useless if this fund is just being hoarded up. More has to be spent for the benefit of the rakyat.
Still, if Khalid’s management of the water issue is any indication, he should not be the party’s deputy president. This is because although he is prudent in spending, his decision making skills are not good enough.
Another example of this is giving free 20 cubic metres of water to the Selangor folks. On the one hand there is free water but on the other hand, there is intensive water ration. It is contradictory and seems like a big joke but for the fact that it is a very serious matter. This move shows up Khalid as muddled up and unable to think clearly.
