Khir: Selangor gov't taking things too personally

Former Selangor MB Dr Mohamad Khir Toyo seems unable to make up his mind about his successor Khalid Ibrahim.

On one hand, Khalid is too "business-minded', that he is neglecting social welfare, but on the other hand is not professional enough to see that "business is business and politics is politics".

Whatever the case, humility is one thing which Khalid needs to work on, said Khir, with the Pakatan Rakyat government proving to be "more arrogant" than the BN.

According to the Selangor Opposition Leader, the MB has surrounded himself with so many brown-nosers that he automatically treats criticism as personal attacks.

This brand of "childish (and) mafia politics" is likely to be the stumbling block in negotiations to restructure the water industry, with Khalid's spat with water concessionaire Syabas chairperson Rozali Ismail evidence of the former's unbecoming behaviour.

Pakatan's knee-jerk approach has also sullied what Khir believes to be the only good thing that has come out of the Selangor government - the free water programme.

Bad relations with Syabas meant that many flat-dwellers are not enjoying the benefits of this policy, evidence of the government's lack of planning, he said.

He added that Selangor is only enjoying a surplus budget thanks to his efforts, leaving the current government with over RM1 billion to spare.

The final excerpt of Malaysiakini's four-part interview follows, with content edited for language and brevity.

Malaysiakini: It has been more than two years since Pakatan Rakyat took over Selangor. What is your assessment of Menteri Besar Khalid Ibrahim's performance?

Dr Mohamad Khir Toyo: People will dispute my evaluation of Khalid's performance. That is why I had suggested to him that he appoint the Institute of Management and Development (IMD) from Switzerland, (which evaluated my government) in collaboration with a local company or department, to evaluate the current state government.

It is unreasonable for him to keep saying that he is better without any scientific evidence. Maybe he is surrounded by people who keep telling him that he is the best, just like when he was in Guthrie, so he thinks he is the best.

But even from an outsider's perspective, I am very concerned that foreign investments in Selangor have plummeted.

But Selangor still managed to have a surplus budget.

That is from state savings. I left Selangor with about RM1.4 billion in its coffers.

Even the federal government suffered a drop in FDI last year. But recent statistics showed that Selangor gained the highest amount of industrial investment compared to other states. (Malaysian Industrial Development Agency statistics showed that Selangor led in terms of industrial investment pulling RM2.47 billion within the January to May 2010 period).

Selangor came in third behind Johor and Sarawak last year. We don't know yet how we performed this year.

I do not see any new industrial areas opening up, no new incentives. Khalid (right) looks at it from a business angle. In the short term...leasing land to a private or foreign company at a low rate (as we suggested) appears to be unprofitable for the state. This is his problem.

Running a state and a business are two very different things. Businesses are concerned about profit and loss. But when you are an MB, you need to look at social welfare, employment opportunities. Private companies don't care if the rakyat are employed or not, this is not important for them, so the MB must take care of this.

But it appears that the current government does have the social welfare of the rakyat in mind with its Merakyatkan Ekonomi Selangor programme.

They give free water, and only recently they figured out the coupon system for low cost flat-dwellers. This free water programmeme costs RM100 to RM150 million a year. It stunts state development and encourages wastage, because people stop caring when they don't have to pay.

They give RM1000 to university students, but this does not reach everyone. We can only see it reaching about 10 percent of the students, and that too among their own cronies. The children of PKR division heads, of PAS members, not the general public.

If we can spend RM140 million (on water), but we stop building religious schools and pre-schools, Selangor Skills Institute (IKYS) in Sabak Bernam had to be shut down due to financial problems...

Are you saying the state cannot afford to run these social welfare programmes?

They once promised that profits from sand mining would be about RM150 to RM200 million a year. This would be the income which will be used to provide (the for the social welfare programmes). But when sand profits came up to only RM8.7 million a year in 2008, this affected their plans.

We are not attacking the state government because we are looking for weaknesses. If before BN was considered arrogant, never listening to advice, (Pakatan) is even worse.

If we criticise, then they will say, ‘We will expose many things (about you)'. It's very childish. Like mafia politics. I want to give advice because in my experience (sand mining on state land) cannot be implemented (due to environmental concerns). Mistakes need to be rectified, not be repeated.

You appear unperturbed by these threats.

If they had so many things to expose they would have done it a long time ago, am I right? It has been two years. They have had full access to all the government documents.

I am not worried because I am speaking as the Opposition Leader. The rakyat is depending on the opposition to keep the government in check. So I don't understand why people are angry with me when I criticise the government. Some members of the press are not with me, why?

Have they forgotten that I have a social responsibility as the Opposition Leader? I should be given support, encouragement to rectify the faults of the government, but it seems to be the other way round.

As the Opposition Leader, have you seen any good come out of the current state government?

There have been steps in the right direction, for sure. Like I said, there is good in giving free water. If this can be continued without adverse impact on the Selangor economy, then it's great. A lot of it is just politics.

Why didn't they continue state policies like giving aid to the close relatives of those who have passed away at the age of 60 an above? During the BN's time we gave this to everyone, there was no need for registration. If you are a Selangor resident, and you die, (your heirs) only need to report your death with the police, produce this as evidence and get RM1,000 from the government.

Now you get RM2,500, but only if you are registered. You get RM1,000 first, and after seven or eight months they gather together everyone due to receive the remainder of the aid, make them listen to a political speech, and then only hand out the remaining RM1,500. It doesn't serve the purpose. After six months, all the funeral expenses have been paid for.

And for registration, it has to be through village heads, and evidence is required, forms must be filled, so people are discouraged from registering.

Do you mean people are compelled to register as members of certain parties first? Have you raised this issue in the state assembly?

Yes, this is the government's money, not the party's. We have advised (the state government), but they still do it quietly. Many villagers are telling us this, but (the government) denies it. We will move to expose these things bit by bit. I have all the information.

The issue with free water is that flat dwellers are not enjoying it because (water concessionaire) Syabas is yet to calibrate the meters there.

This is the problem, (the state government) does things without consultation. They didn't think of this before implementing the policy. We don't want it to be a case of a popularity stunt gone wrong.

The state government has asked Syabas to install new pipes because meters without pipes have no purpose. But who is responsible (for bearing the expense)?

Is Syabas unwilling to cooperate with the state government? There are claims of political motivation as the Syabas chairperson is also the Selangor Umno treasurer.
(This has been widely reported in the press, including Utusan Malaysia and Berita Harian)

I don't know (if they are unwilling to cooperate). It would be unwise for Syabas to be uncooperative because they need the Selangor government (but) when did (Rozali Ismail) become Umno state treasurer? Check your facts. He was treasurer for Hulu Selangor branch (but) business is business.

If we are an Umno member and the government is run by PKR, it is not right (to make it an issue). Business is business, politics is politics. We can't lump everything together, we need to differentiate between the two.

The problem with PKR and PAS is that they see Umno as the enemy. We never viewed PAS and PKR as the enemy before this. How many of their business people were given opportunities? They are making their own enemies, afraid of their own shadows.

Syabas is taking the government to court over the tariff issue...

The state government can win (the court case). Let Syabas sue the government. There is a special clause in the agreement (which sides the government). This is why the state government is making a big fuss over this. The clause states clearly that if Syabas fails to reduce non-revenue water (NRW) to below 20 percent, it cannot increase water tariffs.

Is it true that in the end, the amount the end user would have to pay would make water more expensive than petrol?

No, no, no, that is not right. Not true. If we say we can reduce state development costs, then we can pass this savings to the rakyat. Now the problem is that we are in a lose-lose situation. NRW is rising, and we need to build a dam, build new infrastructure so we still lose water while at the same time having to built infrastructure that will hurt the environment.

Why are there allegations of conflict of interest between the BN administration and water consortium Puncak Niaga?

The problem is Khalid thinks that all Umno members will back Umno. Rozali is not even an active member anymore, no longer treasurer for Hulu Selangor.

Why was he awarded the concession?

He was involved with Puncak Niaga and Syabas at that time, and the federal government saw that his company was the one with the best capabilities.

Rozali seems to be speaking like he is part of the state opposition, claiming that he has been sidelined?

It's as if you cannot conduct business in Selangor if you are an Umno member. That's not fair, how can you say that? It is his right to be involved in any political party, but business is business. Be professional. Khalid claims he is a professional man.

Did his statement about being sidelined have anything to do with the dispute between Syabas and the state government?

I think it must be because they are not on good terms. We cannot sit and negotiate if we say he is an Umno man, a crony. He has feelings too. Like if I want to meet with you, I say all sorts of things about you, and then I invite you over. It's not right.

As an MB, there are lots of things that you may not be happy about but you need to keep it in to maintain good relations in order to solve problems. If he is dissatisfied with Rozali, angry because he is an Umno member, he should keep it in, don't mention it to the press.

Do you think the Selangor Competency Accountability and Transparency (Selcat) hearings have been used in the same manner, to attack the previous government?

It is a political tool. If Selcat is really transparent then why was Hasan Ali left off the hook when he criticised Selcat but I was suspended for a year. He wasn't even called.

But don't you agree that an open hearing is better than presenting a broom to a civil servant?

It is because I gave him a broom that the district officer became the best. In fact there are more underperforming district officers today. Following civil service procedures will take a long time, okay? It's not easy to fire a civil servant. Putting the person in ‘cold storage' would actually make him happier. Less work for the same pay. The issue is the rakyat are angry because civil servants are underperforming, and we took action on the people's behalf. This is new in Malaysia, but in Japan, Korea, these things are normal.

Is this method of humiliating a civil servant normal? Wouldn't you feel embarrassed if it happened to you?

Not humiliating but giving a reminder. I won't feel that (it is embarrassing). It is a good reminder. I am very open (to criticism). If an officer has been advised four or five times and he still underperforms, what would the people want me to do to? I don't understand why something like this needs to be politicized.

Why don't you just boycott Selcat?

I boycott it, but there are other (BN state assemblypersons) who want to participate, because they don't want (Pakatan) to say we don't take part at all. I don't. For us, whether we attend or not it's the same outcome. We only make up two out of the five people on the panel.

If this is the case then the opposition is also useless in the state assembly.

Yes, (it is useless). That's why we use the media (to air our grouses). If our advice is taken positively, this would not be a problem.

VIDEO | 15.45 mins

Part 1:

I don't want to be MB again

I deserve more perks than I got

Part 2:

Perkasa ‘bigger' than Umno Youth