Selangor Menteri Besar Abdul Khalid Ibrahim has taken a state MCA representative to task over his lack of logic.

Wong Kun Mun (BN-Kuala Kubu Bharu), in asking a supplementary question in the state assembly today, had claimed that sand theft is causing river banks and bridges to collapse.

NONE "If you want to be a state assemblyperson your status needs to be a little higher. Use simple logic to differentiate between right and wrong," retorted Abdul Khalid.

"Look at Talam (Corporation), just because they (MCA) saw RM390 million, they said Selangor had abused RM1 billion in funds. What logic is that? Where did the RM1 billion come from? Even if we were to teach them (to count), they're already too old to learn. So what can be done?”

MCA central committee member Chua Tee Yong had alleged that the Selangor government had bailed out Talam which owed the state RM392 million.

However, the state government rebutted this, saying a debt restructuring exercise had been undertaken to recoup the money from Talam, now known as Trinity Corporation.

Petaling Jaya Utara MP Tony Pua had also said Chua's figures are incorrect due to "double counting".

During Question Time, Abdul Khalid had said the state's enforcement action against sand theft had improved, leading to royalty collection rising from RM3 million in 2008 to RM5 million for the first six months of this year.

NONE Wong (right) then asked: "If enforcement is so good, how many people arrested have been convicted? We have never seen it in the newspapers. Even though there has been improvement in royalty from 2008, many river banks are bridges are collapsing.”

Abdul Khalid then chastised Wong for his ‘logic’, explaining there is no correlation between sand theft and collapsing bridges.

He also said the assertion was mere "coffee-shop talk".

"I'm asking you a question and you're answering something else... It collapses because the foundation has weakened. I'm a civil engineer. Don't say this is coffee shop talk," rebutted Wong who went on to accuse Khalid of not having carried out site visits.

At this, the normally unflappable Abdul Khalid lost his temper: "Your statement is an embarrassment. You are embarrassing the state secretariat and municipal officers and engineers.

"They are the one who made the observation and produced the report. Do you not trust them? Are you saying these public servants are not doing their work and are lying to the rakyat?"

‘Don’t curry favour’

During the debate on the supplementary budget later, Ng Suee Lim (DAP-Sekinchan) again took aim at Wong.

selangor dap justice reform team 261110 ng suee lim "Please do some homework before accusing the state government. Don't just accuse for the sake of pleasing the MCA president's son in the hope of being nominated as a candidate in the next general election," he said.

Ng (left) said MCA and BN should apologise for having failed to collect Talam’s debt while administering the state prior to 2008.

Abdul Khalid did not elaborate on issues surrounding Talam. According to an aide, he will address the matter when it comes up during Question Time.

Mohd Shamsudin Lias (BN-Sungai Burong) has submitted a related question, which is listed as No 37 in the order of business. However, only 19 questions have been replied up to now.