DAP lawmaker slams Selangor for refusal to disclose salaries of state company directors

(Malay Mail Online) – Selangor DAP assemblyman Yeo Bee Yin lashed out at the state Pakatan Harapan government, accusing it of being “unreasonable” in refusing her request to know the remuneration of directors in state-owned subsidiaries, adding that it was against the freedom of information policy practised by the previous administration.

Local daily New Straits Times reported today the Damansara Utama representative saying her request had been declined despite similar information being readily available when Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim was Selangor mentri besar.

“The answer given to me was that the information of salary, bonus and benefits are considered private and confidential.

“For me, an answer like that is unreasonable,” she was quoted as saying at the state 2016 Budget debate at the state assembly yesterday.

She said she hoped to be able to get an answer from Selangor Mentri Besar Azmin Ali during the next state assembly sitting.

According to local news portal The Rakyat Post, Selangor civil servants can expect to see a 15 month bonus next year along with a 3 per cent salary increment which will be implemented come January, Azmin said when tabling the state’s 2016 budget last Friday,

Azmin also revealed that Selangor turned its RM452.5-million deficit budget for this year into a current surplus of RM 552.58 million due to reduced government spending.

While projected revenue rose to RM2.05 billion against the projected RM1.97 billion, public expenditure was sharply lower, with the government having spent just RM1.5 billion up to September 30 2015, the MB added.

Khalid was sacked from PKR and eventually resigned as Selangor Mentri Besar following a protracted crisis in the party and the state.

Azmin, a known rival and vocal critic of Khalid, was then appointed as the chief executive of Selangor by the state ruler despite PKR’s attempts to make Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail the MB.