The present Mentri Besar - Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim
This is the hottest topic floating around Malaysia currently. The incumbent Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim had served in the post for 1 term since Pakatan Rakyat won the election in the state in 2008 (8-3-2008), and 1 year in his second term after the election on 5-5-2013.
He is an affable person and had done a good job in the administration of the state in his first term, chalking up reserve of RM3 billion for the state. This was achieved in spite of the endless attacks by certain quarters, including the former state administrator. Certain party is constantly creating problems for the state, the most serious and difficult one being water supply in the state. The supply of water was privatised by the previous BN government to Syabas, a company controlled by a powerful member of UMNO, the dominant party in the coalition forming the federal government. The biggest problem facing the state is the fast-paced development carried out, but the corresponding infrastructure development is lacking, except perhaps with the supply of electricity and telecommunications. Pipes carrying water to homes and factories are more than 30 years old and constant leaks and bursting cause about 30% of the treated water to go to waste. Syabas is obligated to change the pipes on a regular basis, but according to state government leaders, the company is in no financial position to do so. They had claimed that the treatment plant capacity is insufficient to cater for the large and increasing population. More treatment plants are needed and the present ones upgraded. But the state rightfully reminded the company to reduce the non revenue water by upgrading the pipes and stopping water stealing. The federal government had proposed a treatment plant, treating water from a neighbouring state, Pahang, which is transferred through a pipeline with some tunnelling works to be done. This is the so-called Langat2 project, costing some RM6 billion, which as always, may end up costing much more. As Khalid Ibrahim had said, the people of Selangor will have to bear the cost of this monster project if approved. That is the main reason why he did not allow the project to commence in Selangor, though the company awarded the project had already done some tunnelling works.
Then came the federal government's project to consolidate all water assets under the federal government control. As part of the deal, the Selangor government agreed to allow Langat2 to proceed, provided that Puncak Niaga, the parent company of Syabas, accept the Selangor government's proposal to acquire Syabas at RM1.63 billion, revised upward from original offer of RM1.07 billion, so that it can manage the water supply in the state itself.
This is in spite the strong position of Khalid earlier not to allow Langat2 to proceed and the price for Syabas had been revised upwards. His earlier stand was that the original offer of RM1.07 billion was very reasonable.
The next problem is the construction of a toll way called KIDEX, which would cut through dense residential areas in Petaling Jaya and thus requiring the acquisition of many properties, mostly residential houses. Residents living in Petaling Jaya are generally opposed to this project and had protested very loudly for the Mentri Besar to hear. Moreover, this highway had not had its environmental assessment approved by the government and not part of the city of Petaling Jaya plan.
Why is the Mentri Besar allowing it to go ahead?
The more difficult problem confounding him is the issue of banning the use of the word 'Allah' by other religious groups especially Christians. The religious authorities claim that this term is reserved exclusively for Muslims. Christians contended that they had been using the word in the Malay version of their bibles for years and the use of the word even predates Islam. It is also used by the Sikhs in their holy book. This culminated in the confiscation of the bibles by the Selangor religious department which is under the jurisdiction of the MB. But the Selangor sultan is the head of Islam as stated in the state constitution. Herein lies the problem. If the same party rules both the state and federal governments, conflicts would not occur as the state civil servants would not dare go against their MB. Now that the PM and MB come from different parties, the more powerful party has the final say. This contrasts starkly with Australia, where the government in many states are formed by Labour Party, while the federal government is run by Coalition. But conflicts of this nature never happen because it is a mature democracy. The sensitivity of this problem made the MB reluctant to move. Thus he is seen as weak.
Another accusation hurled at him is his aloofness in running the state. He is said to make major decisions on his own, never consulting his party leaders.
His party, Parti Keadilan Rakyat, recently held a council meeting and passed a resolution to replace him with party chairlady, Wan Azizah Wan Ismail. This was agreed by coalition partners, The Democratic Action Party and PAS. But now the PAS president has come out to support Khalid and called for him to complete his current term, which ends only in about 4 years' time. By doing so, he is contradicting the PAS representatives who attended the coalition meeting. There are now dissenting voices in the party. Will this cause the breakup of the coalition, which had the grand ambition of capturing the federal government in the next general elections from BN which had ruled the country for 57 years now? Will PKR press the issue to make Khalid going for broke and request the sultan to dissolve the state assembly, thus calling for fresh elections in the state, which is exactly what BN is waiting for?
But if the situation comes to a head, will BN be able to win the election, considering that Pakatan Rakyat had won more than 2/3 of the seats in the last election? The voters in Selangor are a sophisticated and unpredictable lot? Moreover, most of the constituencies in the state are urban or semi-urban, latest polls favouring BN not withstanding.
Will Khalid go for broke?
The MB had said that he would not resign, since he was elected by the people of Selangor. This is misleading, as under the Malaysia constitution, the Prime Minister and the Chief Minister or Mentri Besar of each state are elected by the party that wins the most number of seats in Parliament or state assembly. Therefore when he no longer commands the confidence of the party in which he belongs, it is only morally right for him to step down. It is like a guest who has been invited into the house by the owner for a short stay. When the time comes that the host feels uncomfortable with him and requests his guest to leave, the guest cannot refuse.
As of now on 13-8-2014, Khalid Ibrahim was sacked from the party, PKR, but remained defiant and claimed that he has majority support of the state assembly. He had an audience with the state ruler who consented to his continued holding of the state chief executive post.
Yesterday, he announced that he had dismissed 6 of the executive councillors, 3 from PKR and 3 from DAP, with the full consent of the sultan. This is certainly a constitutional crisis. Let us wait and see how it will play out.
2 days ago, Wan Azizah had managed to get a signed support list from 30 state assemblypersons, including 2 PAS members who said they are prepared to be expelled by the party for this. This shows that any sympathy for Khalid had dissipated after he sacked 6 of the Exco members. But many legal experts still claim that the best method to ascertain support is calling for an emergency sitting of the state assembly, where state assemblypersons cast their vote. But this can only happen if the MB call for the sitting, or they will have to wait until November for the scheduled sitting.
PAS today (17-8-2014) had a central committee meeting and decided to back Wan Azizah AND Azmin Ali for the MB post. This is again not in line with what PKR wanted, that is, only Wan Azizah to be proposed. Will the party accept this as a compromise to the solution?
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