Selangor: Between Tortoise And Bullet Train

We all know that Selangor is the richest state in Malaysia.

Under the capable hands of the Menteri Besar Khalid Ibrahim, the state has an accumulated surplus of more than 2 billion ringgit.

We are all happy that instead of the lacklustre performances of the previous DUMBno administrations, Selangor under Pakatan is doing well, alongside that of Penang, another state under opposition rule.

So, when Anwar & Co criticised Khalid Ibrahim for being a slow coach, we were not happy with the pressure being put on the Menteri Besar.

What was Anwar & Co trying to get at?

Should Selangor rush to spend, spend, spend now that it has a healthy surplus in its coffers?

We know that Kahlid Ibrahim has even been called "stingy" by his own party and state exco members.

We are happy that Khalid is stingy than spendthrift ala DUMBno

But look what has happened now? Has the "tortoise" turned into a bullet train?

Swiftly, Khalid has legislated huge increases in salaries to himself and his exco and the state law makers.

A 30-40% increase in salaries/allowances across the board is reasonable. 200-400% in some cases?!

It seems that Khalid's salary as the Menteri Besar is now higher than that of the Pm's!

Khalid's justification is that the salary increases would help the exco members and state assembly persons do their jobs better.

Khalid, those are personal emoluments. The state assembly persons and exco members are not obliged to spend their salaries in doing their work. And even those huge increases won't be enough, if truth be told, were they to be spent on public projects for the benefit of the state and the people of Selangor.

If the exco members and state assembly persons need funds to do their work, get them to prepare their project papers to convince you that the projects are not largely harebrained DUMBno type ideas that benefit nobody but only a certain group of vested interests and are just a criminal waste of funds.

Now, Anwar & Co have come out to say that the increases are on the high side and want a review.

What is the drama all about? Who is fooling whom?

The state surplus should benefit the state and its people, not a closed coterie of the politically connected and vested interests.

Working for vested interests and those politically connected looks suspiciously like the DUMBno way of doing business that we rakyat hugely detest.

Remember that we kicked out the previous DUMBno led state government precisely because we saw it as just a self-serving administration.

Don't make the same mistake, Pakatan!