Selangor opposition leader Dr Mohd Khir Toyo will not be shocked should the state assembly's powerful rights and privileges committee decide to suspend him for 12 months from the House tomorrow.

The former menteri besar is also expecting his four Barisan Nasional colleagues to be suspended as well but he said it will not deter him from protesting the decision.

The decision to suspend him follows the Umno leader's absence from the Balkis inquiry in March, and for criticising the Selangor Select Committee on Competence, Accountability and Transparency (Selcat) in his blog.

khir toyo pc on khir toyo mansion 060709 Met by reporters outside the state assembly building, Khir ( left ) said with a smile: “Tomorrow, we will think how to go about registering our protest. There will be a surprise element.”

The privileges committee also called for the suspension of BN assemblypersons Warno Dogol (Sabak), Isa Abdul Kasim (Batang Kali), Marsum Paing (Dengkil) and Mohamad Idris Abu Bakar (Hulu Bernam) for six months for questioning the integrity of Selcat.

“Just imagine, my friends just advised Selcat to be more transparent and appoint someone non-partisan to be a member, but then they are also slaped with a six-month suspension without allowances.

“Even the ISA (Internal Security Act) is not like this. If you are held under the ISA, they still give you food...but this is worse, they cut off everything,” said Khir.

'No wrongdoings in report'

The state assembly today turned nasty as leaders from the political divide exchanged words over a proposed motion to accept a report of recommendations by Selcat over Balkis’ misuse of welfare funds.

Balkis was headed by Mohd Khir’s wife Zaharah Kechik before it was dissolved in March 11, 2008 and the funds were transferred to Bakti (federal equivalent of Balkis).

selangor privilleges commitee meeting on allegation against khir toyo 120509 03 According to Mohd Khir, the report of recommendations provided by Selcat today does not point out any wrongdoings on the part of Balkis and that the committee should instead raise the allegations outside the state assembly.

“If they claim that I have misused the state government’s money, they should make all these allegations outside the House (so the legal action can be taken),” he said.

He also took arch-rival Speaker Teng Chang Khim ( above ) to task for asking him to attend the Balkis’ public inquiry.

“I want to clarify here, I did not attend the inquiry because I was called under Balkis’ name. But I do not have any rights to answer on their behalf. If I was called under the state subsidiary’s name, then I would have attend,” he said.

Legal action an option

Mohd Khir also came to Balkis’ defence saying that the organisation had RM 9.9 million during the time of its dissolution compared to the state government’s allocation of RM7.5 million for eight years.

“The issue being raised now because they (the current state government) want to take over Balkis. Balkis was dissolved on the advice of the Registrar of Societies, and the money transfered to Bakti as stated in the report,” he said.

Khir did not rule out the possibility of taking legal action against the speaker.

“We will see how it goes tomorrow...it is important to see how the proceedings are conducted.

"We (also) want to see if the Dewan decides or the committee decides. If the committee decides, it will not be fair,” he said.

According to him, it would be biased for Teng to act as the “accuser, investigator and a judge” as he is the chairperson of Selcat and the rights and the privileges committee.

According to the report, the recommendations include the setting up of a separate fund for financial contributions from state-owned companies as part of their corporate social responsibility programmes.

Selcat also urged the state government to immediately implement policies and guidelines for all state companies to “avoid the Balkis episode occurring in the future”.