INTERVIEW When Malaysiakini walked into his office for an interview on Tuesday, Selangor Menteri Besar Abdul Khalid Ibrahim was munching kuih bangkit, leaving crumbs all over the front of his shirt.

Having skipped lunch for back-to-back interviews, Khalid sat in front of media cameras, his hair uncombed, the pant on one leg awkwardly hitched too high and shirt buttons straining around the gut.

Having made the money in his previous life as a corporate bigwig, Khalid is not short of funds to make the appropriate fashion statement.

It is just that in fashion, as well as in state administration, the menteri besar is not one for keeping up appearances.

“My objective for Selangor is reform. The other (part), pleasing people to gain their support, will be second priority,” Khalid said, unflinchingly.

But this is the most common complaint against Khalid. Critics agree that he is a good administrator, but say he treats Selangor like his own company, is completely unaccountable to the party but leaves the party to deal with political fallouts.

As a member of the political bureau, he is often absent from the meetings, leaving others to speak for him. Communication between the party and the state, critics say, should not be done through intermediaries.

Now faced with what seems like a bid by the party to replace him, Khalid concedes that he can do better in the area of political diplomacy.  

“If you spend 80 percent of your time trying to make sure the administration is good, you spend 20 percent of your time politicking and all that, then maybe you should move from 20 percent to 40 percent, to 60 percent,” he said.

This is how he speaks - frequently referring to himself as 'you' instead of 'I', as if he has taken a step back and is assessing the situation from the outside.

And then, as if negotiating a business deal, he makes an offer: “Forty percent (of politicking), without compromise. In the sense that the communication is done, but not the hanky panky.”

Eyes wide open

Khalid does not elaborate on what he means by “hanky panky”, but he insists there is no way he will “compromise”.

“The term is to compromise - you close your eyes and all that. I don't,” he said.  

One of the things he refuses to back down on, he said, is “jumping over files”.

“I want to check that nobody uses delay as part of getting preference and secondly, I don't want people to become runners, because runners spoil decision-making.

“They (assemblypersons) got very upset, because they do not have the income. So I gave more provisions for allocation to them. I increase the provision and all the programmes through Merakyatkan Ekonomi (Democratising the Economy). They have enough programmes,” he said.

Today, he said, the annual allocation provided for each constituency, via its assemblyperson in Selangor is RM500,000 – 10 times higher than what the previous BN administration provided.

However, those frustrated with Khalid say it is not just political gimmicks they are after. Some big decisions – such as the decision to cooperate with the federal government on the water takeover – should be done in consultation with the party. Instead, the party was left looking foolish.

Khalid stoutly defends his tight-lipped stance on the water issue.

“You must understand. In the corporate world, there is an element called the 'insider'. If I want to negotiate with somebody and everybody knows my negotiation strategy, I tell them, 'When I tell you this, you have seal your (lips)'...

“In politics, there is no such thing as sealing your lips. And (when someone) uses this information and becomes an insider, how will you stop it?”

Anwar kept in the loop

It is not true, Khalid said, that no one in the party knew about the water issue. PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim too was in the loop and he insisted that the state should act autonomously from the party.

“Yeah, he (Anwar) knows (about the water takeover decisions), but he wouldn't know at what price (we are making offers). (He) shouldn't.

“You can track it. That is what transparency is about... you can audit it, but you cannot be involved in the business decision-making. You cannot and you have to learn that,” Khalid said.

Likewise, he said, other unpopular decisions were made with the sole agenda of reforming the state and removing the rentier class.

To do this, he said, he raised the assemblyperson's salaries – a move that caused much political backlash at a time when Malaysians are forced to tighten their belts.

“Because the amount of income to an assemblyperson and all that doesn't even pay the cash requirement they need to service their constituency.

“So they may have to work on other things in order to support (their constituency work), and it's a very frustrating thing.

“The reform agenda we want is we don't want a rentier class. We agreed on that. If you have a rentier class, then the whole game is the same. We understand (the assemblypersons') frustration, but we don't want to help them,” Khalid said.

Having predicted the growth in Pakatan's takings in Selangor in the 13th general election, Khalid stoutly believes that the people of Selangor are behind him.

In fact, he claims the bulk of Selangor backbenchers and the party backs him – save for “three or four people” he does not care to name.

“You do a survey,” he challenged.

Easier to yell 'Reformasi!'

Will he be able to convince his key detractors within the party about his methods?

“Well, I'm convincing myself, too. This is the better way. If not, you don't talk about reform.”

Having joined PKR at its lowest ebb in 2007, Khalid said he used to be terrified when asked to give political speeches on reform because he knew what the party was promising was not an easy task.

Five years into the job, he still maintains that cleaning up a government is an uphill battle, and it is a battle he is still fighting, even when the daggers are already out for him.

“Some go in front of thousands of people and say 'We reform! We reform!' but when it comes to translation (into action), well...

“They say 'reform', but when there is opportunity to do so, they don't want to (reform). You can't do that. You can't.”


Interview conducted by Steven Gan, Fathi Aris Omar, Radzi Razak and Aidila Razak.
 
THE KHALID IBRAHIM INTERVIEW

Part 1: Abdul Khalid: If I resign, it'll be my choice
 
Part 2: MB: There may be a royal twist to the Selangor saga
 
Part 3: MB to 'spend more time' pleasing party

Part 4: What will be Khalid Ibrahim's legacy?