by Joceline Tan, July 22 2012
Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim is fighting a lonely war on a host of issues as he prepares to run the final lap for control of Selangor.
NOT many people know that Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim likes to sing karaoke. According to a former aide, music and singing are often a feature during private dinner parties at his posh Malay-style house.
The Selangor Mentri Besar (MB) likes sentimental evergreens and he does have a certain swagger when singing although he conveniently skips the high notes. But it is doubtful if Khalid has much time for music or singing these days. He is swamped by a myriad of issues as he prepares to make the final lap in the political race for Selangor.
The internal politicking in his PKR party is pressing in on him, the Talam controversy refuses to go away and he is in denial that Selangor is facing a shortage of treated water. A perfect storm is forming over Selangor.
Growing pressure: Khalid’s eyesight is near perfect after Lasik treatment but his political future is cloudy as he prepares to run the final lap.On Wednesday, members of a Malay NGO, Gerakan Prihatin Rakyat Selangor, turned up to protest at the main entrance of the state government complex. It had something to do with the Pakatan Rakyat’s proposal to do away with loans for tertiary level students and for a small group, they made a lot of noise. It was not the first time GPRS was protesting and no one batted an eyelid when the security personnel quickly shut the tall metal gates.
But critical voices were heard when the security unit slammed the gates in the face of a group of about 50 displaced Indians who wanted to petition the MB for resettlement houses that had been promised to them.
Activist Tan Jo Han, who champions urban poor issues, is still seething over the incident last month. He had gone there with the group of elderly Indians who had been promised homes when they were evicted from their original homes in Sungai Buloh 20 years ago. They have gone through four MBs and have grown old waiting for justice.
“We thought things would be different under Pakatan. I told the guards to let the elderly ones wait in the lobby but even to that, they said no. I was shocked. The Pakatan people had demonstrated with us in the old days; now, you are closing the gate. They are making a big mistake treating us like this,” said Tan who is president of an NGO called Permas.
Tan and several of them were let in to hand over the petition but did not get to see the MB. Tan has a good working relationship with the state exco member in charge of housing and squatters but he is frustrated that the state government has not solved issues to do with urban poor communities.
“The state government has the power to grant land. Why is he (Khalid) so reluctant? We have the promissory letters,” said Tan.
Tan: Still upset that urban poor group were denied entry into state premises.Like many groups who had supported Pakatan in 2008, he had believed the new government would be on the side of the poor and oppressed. It has been a hard landing and Tan shot off a string of angry SMSes to PKR politicians about the shoddy treatment.
One of those who responded was PKR politician Latheefa Koya and the story is that it eventually cost her the MPPJ councillor post.
The poor folk’s plight had resonated with Latheefa who is part of the socialist group in PKR. She reportedly sent a critical e-mail to the MB’s office. News leaked that the MB wanted to sack her from the MPPJ but she resigned before she could be sacked. But Khalid has relented and she has been asked to reconsider her decision.
Latheefa has a fierce face and a personality to match, and she had reportedly had a few other run-ins with Khalid before this. But her stand on the urban poor incident was the straw that broke the MB’s patience.
Khalid is going through a terrible time. Latheefa is just a fraction of the problems he is having with other bigger names in his party. He has problems inside and outside his party. There are simply too many issues, big and small, popping up so close to the general election.
His adversaries within PKR are saying the party should have taken the bold step of replacing him in 2010 when criticism about his leadership style reached a crescendo. But he survived because replacing him mid-term would look bad on the party and send the wrong signal to Selangoreans. They let Khalid off after he promised to listen more to the party.
Ouster bid
But, said a source, there had been another bid to replace him before that. An exclusive circle around Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim had tried to dislodge him as early as 2009 amid speculation that state exco member Elizabeth Wong might have to resign after intimate photographs of her went public.
Latheefa: Speculation rife about stepping on Khalid’s toes the last few months.The anti-Khalid faction had flirted with the idea of Anwar contesting a by-election in her seat and taking over as MB. But Anwar was not keen, he had his eye on the bigger prize and thought the MB’s post was below him. Anyway, Wong did not resign and the idea died a natural death.
Khalid’s reluctance to come clean on the Talam debt recovery issue has dented his corporate image. When MCA first raised the matter, he had said he would explain the next day. When the day arrived, he said he would explain at the State Legislative Assembly sitting. Then at the sitting, he announced that five audit companies would be appointed to review the Talam deals and everything would be revealed after that.
He is obviously stalling for time, trying to put off the explanation till after the general election and it does not look good on his administration. By not countering the MCA Young Professionals Bureau, he is allowing their allegations to dominate public opinion.
The silence from his own party leaders has been even more detrimental. The perception is that Khalid has to fight a lonely battle.
Anwar, his State Economic Advisor, has not uttered a word on this and seems more interested in cultivating his international image and was in Jakarta for an international meeting where he was photographed with Indonesia’s president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and former Thai Premier Thaksin Shinawatra.
It is clear by now that Rafizi Ramli has little intention of coming to his rescue either. Until his sudden resignation last month, Rafizi was essentially the chief economist of Selangor in his capacity as CEO of the Office of the State Economic Advisor. Reporters have been after him for comments but he is doing a Pontius Pilate on Khalid – he has washed his hands off the issue.
But Rafizi is a smart chap and he was probably getting out of the way before the Talam issue exploded. Instead of helping out Khalid, he threatened to expose claims of Talam and MCA ties. He is trying to sidetrack but some called it “Rafizi’s strip-tease threat”.
Rafizi is enjoying what his friends call “revenge time”. But no one is enjoying it more than PKR deputy president Azmin Ali, the prime rival for the MB’s office. Some call it Azmin’s “popcorn and soda moment” – he is sitting back to enjoy it like a good movie.
According to sources, Khalid was not interested in having Anwar as an economic advisor in his government. He felt he knew enough about economics and, anyway, who can blame him for having a dim view of Anwar’s economic knowledge?
Azmin: Has been of no help as his arch rival struggles to cope with the growing crisis.He was also unconvinced about Rafizi’s economic expertise and resisted his appointment as the state economist.
“We had to push Rafizi’s appointment down Khalid’s throat,” said a source.
Rafizi, knowing that Khalid was rather touchy about his role, kept a low profile and became famous not for his economic role in Selangor but for the NFCorp scandal.
Tony Pua, the MP for PJ Utara, has tried to divert the Talam conversation. It is a good try but without primary details about what actually transpired between Talam and Khalid’s government, Pua is starting to look like an apologist for a fishy-looking deal. He ought to know that people want to hear it from Khalid and no one else.
Water crisis looms
But even as Khalid is struggling to throw water on the Talam fire, a new issue is threatening to engulf him.
There is a crisis over the supply of treated water in the state. His state exco members have been photographed pointing at dams full of water and claiming there is no water crisis. But the issue is not about raw water. It is about treated water and the limited capacity of existing treatment plants to supply sufficient treated water to the ballooning industrial and domestic demand.
The water issue is a potential political disaster. Within his own party, they are saying that the issue would not have reached such a stage had Khalid not been obstinate and agreed to meet the parties concerned half-way. The Selangor politicians can talk round and round the Talam controversy but when taps run dry, no amount of talking is going to help.
The Selangor government had come in on a wave of populism, promising good governance, transparency and reforms. It had a good two to three years. But the episode of poor Indians being kept outside the gates is like a sad metaphor of things gone wrong with the Pakatan government. The perception is that if the state government can bail out a developer to the tune of millions of ringgit, why is it so difficult to help poor Indians asking for what they have been promised?
“In politics, there is the first 100 days where you set the tone. Then you implement in the next two or three years. Now is the final lap where you unveil the final package to wow the voters. But Khalid is busy fighting fires,” said a PKR insider.
Khalid’s administration is fraying at an inopportune time. Like its Pakatan counterparts elsewhere, the Selangor government was largely running on anti-Barisan Nasional sentiments. It worked fantastically well in the beginning but after more than four years, the hate and blame game is starting to wear out.
The politics of hate and blame cannot go on forever and any party hoping to do well in the next general election will have to convince voters that it can offer the politics of hope.
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