Selangor MB must clear the air over loan deal
The Malaysian Insider
Until Selangor Mentri Besar Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim provides the facts on his sweet out-of-court settlement with Bank Islam over a huge unpaid debt, there is going to be cynicism every time he speaks about the controversial Kinrara-Damansara Expressway (Kidex), the controversial Selangor water deal or for that matter, anything else.
Harsh? Unfair? Unjust?
Khalid may claim all this and more but that is the stringent environment he has to operate in given the assurances he and Pakatan Rakyat (PR) gave when they urged the voters to kick out the Dr Mohamed Khir Toyo state government in 2008.
Didn’t they say they wouldn’t promote opaque business deals or sleight-of-hand tricks that would benefit the chosen few over community interests?
Didn’t they mock Khir Toyo over his special deal which netted him that lavish bungalow for small change?
In a large part, Khir Toyo and his government were given the boot because of the perception that corruption and self-serving ethos had become endemic.
Khalid and PR were supposed to usher in a new era of openness and transparency and to a large extent, they delivered what they promised in the first term. Their reward: an even large majority in the state assembly following the 2013 general election.
Then it all started to get a bit opaque.
First, Khalid agreed to the of mother-of-all water deals, a decision which even stumped his own party leaders.
Until today, he can’t explain satisfactorily to his PR colleagues why the state government is stumping out RM2 billion to buy over water assets in a bailout deal cobbled together by the bailout specialists in Putrajaya.
Then came along Kidex or more commonly known as the RM2.4 billion highway project given to the family of former Chief Justice Tun Zaki Azmi and Umno lawyer Hafarizam Harun, both whom have as much experience in building a road as you and us.
Khalid has sounded like an Umno man defending the project, his words laced with the arrogance of Khir Toyo in his pomp.
He has lambasted the residents of the affected areas in Petaling Jaya, accusing them of selfishness; has refused to meet with residents.
Even his own PKR leaders have been surprised at his wholehearted embrace of this project, given PR’s well-known disdain for toll concessions.
In the last week or so, Khalid has flip-flopped on Kidex in the style of the famous gymnast in Putrajaya, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, saying alternatively that no final decision had been made on Kidex and a whole bunch of other stuff.
At the moment, nobody knows what he stands for. And anecdotal evidence is that his standing is plummeting among voters.
Khalid and PR should understand one clear lesson from the Teluk Intan by-election: you cannot take voters for granted.
