S'gor MB under fire for 'minority' remark
Rahmah Ghazali & K PragalathPublished: May 25, 2009 11:26 AM | Updated: May 25, 2009 11:49 AM
Selangor Menteri Besar Abdul Khalid Ibrahim today came under fire for certain remarks made during a seminar for city councillors that was held in the secretariat building in Shah Alam last year.
This was revealed by outspoken grassroots PKR leader, A Thiruvenggadam, who alleged that the menteri besar had said that he would not 'meet any minority groups' pertaining to lack of job opportunities given to the Indians.
Selangor Menteri Besar Abdul Khalid Ibrahim today came under fire for certain remarks made during a seminar for city councillors that was held in the secretariat building in Shah Alam last year.
This was revealed by outspoken grassroots PKR leader, A Thiruvenggadam, who alleged that the menteri besar had said that he would not “meet any minority groups” pertaining to lack of job opportunities given to the Indians.
According to Thiruvenggadam, who is also Petaling Jaya Selatan division's deputy chief and PKR-appointed councillor to the PJ city council, he had made numerous attempts to seek an appointment with the menteri besar but to no avail.
“Last year, over 40 Indian councillors held a meeting and we drafted a memorandum to the menteri besar and wanted to seek an appointment with him. But two months passed, and there was no response,” he told a press conference in Petaling Jaya today.
But during the councillors seminar, he added, Shah Alam councillors and Subang Jaya councillors including himself had to voice out their disappointment to Abdul Khalid for not giving any response to their demands.
“So, we all raised this to him during the seminar and asked him about the memorandum we sent him. But he told us: ‘I will never meet any minority groups. If I meet, other minority groups will start coming to us’.
“That is what he said. You can check with other councillors (who attended the seminar) if you don’t believe me... (His) statement has hurt us, all the Indian councillors who were present,” claimed Thiruvenggadam.
Last week, Thiruvenggadam had lashed out at Pakatan Rakyat and its administration in Selangor for continuing to marginalise the Indian community in the state, saying that it is not much different from what Barisan Nasional had done.
He alleged that all promises made by Pakatan leaders, including the menteri besar and PKR president Anwar Ibrahim before the general election in March 2008 to uplift the Indian community remained unfulfilled.
Alam Flora contracts shared out to political parties?
In a statement read out to the press, Thiruvenggadam also claimed that the state government divides waste-concessionaire Alam Flora contracts to political parties - 40 per cent to PKR, 30 per cent to PAS and 30 per cent to DAP.
“This policy is wrong and against good government practice and it will lead to corruption. This system denies further the Indian community from participating in the contracts.
“Worse, the community does not even have any information on it and many councillors in Selangor were surprised with this kind of contract arrangement,” added Thiruvenggadam.
He further compared this kind of system with Pakatan-led government in Penang, “where everything is done in the open”.
“We should let everybody contest and get the contract. What is wrong if DAP man gets it, or an Umno man gets it. Once a government is elected, they can’t discriminate between the citizens based on political parties,” he said.
On the same note, Thiruvenggadam also expressed his disappointment over the lack of appointments for Indians in senior posts especially in the state government-linked companies (GLCs).
“Have you heard of any Indians being appointed as directors? Why do we have this discrimination, why can’t they hold senior posts?” he asked.
As he failed to seek advice from Abdul Khalid, Thiruvenggadam also claimed that he tried to see PKR Subang Jaya MP R Sivarasah and state exco member Xavier Jeyakumar about the matter.
“And they told us not to talk about this on racial basis as the (state government) is multi-racial.
“But we represent Indians and we have to talk about Indians,” he said.
He also challenged the state government to give “statistical proof” if Indians are getting any contracts or senior jobs.
“If they can’t produce (it), they will have to change their attitude and do something about it,” Thiruvenggadam said.
'Baseless allegations,' says MB's political secretary
In an immediate reaction, Jeyakumar, declined to comment until he sees Thiruvenggadam's statement in full. However, he denied the allegations and commented on Alam Flora contracts.
“The allegations are wrong. We haven't given any contracts to Alam Flora,” he said.
Meanwhile, political secretary to Abdul Khalid, Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad described the allegations that the state government is sidelining the Indian community as “baseless”.
In a statement issued to Malaysiakini, Nik Nazmi said the state government has communitarian economy programmes which apply to all races.
Responding to the minority remark, the Seri Setia assemblyperson also dismissed claims that Abdul Khalid refused to listen to the minorities as alleged by Thiruvenggadam.
“What he meant was that he will not entertain requests for business opportunities based on racial sentiments. (Instead), all issues, including on distribution of contracts, are looked at from all angles and race is the last consideration on the table,” he said.
“If he meets the Indian community alone, then the Chinese and the Malays will also ask for the same favour.
“This will send a bad precedent and we will be no different than the BN government," he said, adding that that the people-centric programmes in such a communitarian economy showed that the Pakatan government does not favour one race over the other.
“We will help those who need help and provide business opportunities based on their deliverable factors,” he added.
This was revealed by outspoken grassroots PKR leader, A Thiruvenggadam, who alleged that the menteri besar had said that he would not “meet any minority groups” pertaining to lack of job opportunities given to the Indians.According to Thiruvenggadam, who is also Petaling Jaya Selatan division's deputy chief and PKR-appointed councillor to the PJ city council, he had made numerous attempts to seek an appointment with the menteri besar but to no avail.
“Last year, over 40 Indian councillors held a meeting and we drafted a memorandum to the menteri besar and wanted to seek an appointment with him. But two months passed, and there was no response,” he told a press conference in Petaling Jaya today.
But during the councillors seminar, he added, Shah Alam councillors and Subang Jaya councillors including himself had to voice out their disappointment to Abdul Khalid for not giving any response to their demands.
“So, we all raised this to him during the seminar and asked him about the memorandum we sent him. But he told us: ‘I will never meet any minority groups. If I meet, other minority groups will start coming to us’.
“That is what he said. You can check with other councillors (who attended the seminar) if you don’t believe me... (His) statement has hurt us, all the Indian councillors who were present,” claimed Thiruvenggadam.
Last week, Thiruvenggadam had lashed out at Pakatan Rakyat and its administration in Selangor for continuing to marginalise the Indian community in the state, saying that it is not much different from what Barisan Nasional had done.
He alleged that all promises made by Pakatan leaders, including the menteri besar and PKR president Anwar Ibrahim before the general election in March 2008 to uplift the Indian community remained unfulfilled.
Alam Flora contracts shared out to political parties?
In a statement read out to the press, Thiruvenggadam also claimed that the state government divides waste-concessionaire Alam Flora contracts to political parties - 40 per cent to PKR, 30 per cent to PAS and 30 per cent to DAP.
“This policy is wrong and against good government practice and it will lead to corruption. This system denies further the Indian community from participating in the contracts.
“Worse, the community does not even have any information on it and many councillors in Selangor were surprised with this kind of contract arrangement,” added Thiruvenggadam.
He further compared this kind of system with Pakatan-led government in Penang, “where everything is done in the open”.
“We should let everybody contest and get the contract. What is wrong if DAP man gets it, or an Umno man gets it. Once a government is elected, they can’t discriminate between the citizens based on political parties,” he said.
On the same note, Thiruvenggadam also expressed his disappointment over the lack of appointments for Indians in senior posts especially in the state government-linked companies (GLCs).
“Have you heard of any Indians being appointed as directors? Why do we have this discrimination, why can’t they hold senior posts?” he asked.
As he failed to seek advice from Abdul Khalid, Thiruvenggadam also claimed that he tried to see PKR Subang Jaya MP R Sivarasah and state exco member Xavier Jeyakumar about the matter.
“And they told us not to talk about this on racial basis as the (state government) is multi-racial.
“But we represent Indians and we have to talk about Indians,” he said.
He also challenged the state government to give “statistical proof” if Indians are getting any contracts or senior jobs.
“If they can’t produce (it), they will have to change their attitude and do something about it,” Thiruvenggadam said.
'Baseless allegations,' says MB's political secretary
In an immediate reaction, Jeyakumar, declined to comment until he sees Thiruvenggadam's statement in full. However, he denied the allegations and commented on Alam Flora contracts.
“The allegations are wrong. We haven't given any contracts to Alam Flora,” he said.
Meanwhile, political secretary to Abdul Khalid, Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad described the allegations that the state government is sidelining the Indian community as “baseless”.In a statement issued to Malaysiakini, Nik Nazmi said the state government has communitarian economy programmes which apply to all races.
Responding to the minority remark, the Seri Setia assemblyperson also dismissed claims that Abdul Khalid refused to listen to the minorities as alleged by Thiruvenggadam.
“What he meant was that he will not entertain requests for business opportunities based on racial sentiments. (Instead), all issues, including on distribution of contracts, are looked at from all angles and race is the last consideration on the table,” he said.
“If he meets the Indian community alone, then the Chinese and the Malays will also ask for the same favour.
“This will send a bad precedent and we will be no different than the BN government," he said, adding that that the people-centric programmes in such a communitarian economy showed that the Pakatan government does not favour one race over the other.
“We will help those who need help and provide business opportunities based on their deliverable factors,” he added.
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