(This is one response to an earlier post expressing concern about what is happening to the Selangor Pakatan Rakyat government which I think is important enough to share in the public domain to elicit a wider discussion. – Kit)
There is certainly the “need to be worried” matter in Selangor. One quote going around from some prominent businessmen is that ” It took BN 50 yrs to become so arrogant, but it took PR only 1(one) year to be just as arrogant”. Nowhere is that business sentiment more acutely felt than amongst some housing developers.
The aetiology is of course multifactorial. Many unscrupulous and other less-than-straight developers had ridden on the past (less transparent) govt to execute projects that left much bitter aftertaste/heartaches amongst unconsulted residents in a forced topdown approach. Unfortunately in yesteryears (and even recently) REHDA had not come down hard on these recalitrants, thus much of society had tarred all and sundry developers in the same manner.
After March 2008, the pendulum has swung to the other extreme end, made more evident/entrenched when many politicians(largely from PR) oversold/overbought excessive and simplistic ideas of ‘fixing-up the developers’ and ‘being-with-the-people’. Some end up losing the capability to size-up/tease-out the secret personal agendas of ‘certain rakyat citizens’, lose their objectvity and easily slide into and maintain the same opposition mentality of protest, championing the “cause of the ‘rakyat'”. In Selangor, some join the ranks of protests against the state govt. These populist politicians are easily egged on by a few self-serving residents, the latter being only too pleased to titillate these populist-politicians.
The Selangor PR is thus moulded by these events/forces. I dare say 2 (two) camps exist, the ‘pro-rakyat/pro-citizen’ vs the ‘pro-business/pro-developer’. Magnified by a revulsion to 52 yrs of authoritarian abuse/pendulum-swing/greenie resurgence, no marks to your guess in who the dominant influence is! In DAP, we(or rather many) are under the literal influence of the word “socialism” which oftentimes bespelled them to an exaggerated stance. This oversimplified erroneous state (rakyat vs business/developer) negated and undermined the roles of the ‘genuine citizenry’ and the ‘fairly-honest/ethical deveopers’ and let-off the scruples of federalism/corrupt-politicians/crooked-parasitic-developers. A distracting tai-chi thus effectively allowed the bad guys off scot free, as the good resident groups now pit themselves against the developer/business community! Poor Khalid(Tan Sri), God have mercy on him.
The dynamic outcome of the summation of these two forces appears to determine the direction of policy-setting and influence development(or its lack) as well as its type in Selangor. So when the “rakyat” forces prevailed, we see a proliferation of socialist-like policies/programmes, eg Usia Emas, Tawas, Beras/gula handouts, etc. But money do not grow on trees. It runs out pretty fast. Soon we may agihkan kemiskinan. The economy is slowing. The pasar-malam (relatively recession-proof industry) hawkers are lamenting on business-drops of up to 50%.
Bitter reality is harshly sinking in. Pro-development policies and programmes must emerge. The actual implimentation of the economic packages is mandatory to stimulate economic activity and just as importantly to give hope to the rakyat and generate an image of doer-mentality (after a March announcement, a 6 mth time-gap of little action is deafeningly embarassing). The only recourse is for PR to proclaim a “pro-development/pro-business BUT transparent” approach.
PR must facilitate economic activity with transparency and accountability as its fundamental underpining. The focus must be to encourage investors, not to throw a wet blanket at them. Our priority must be to the man in the street( small-time businessmen, employee such as clerks/technicians, form 5 to college graduates), who needs jobs and job-stability. Only economic activity can give them a chance. They have little savings reserve, unlike more established older persons. More so in these trying times, all Aduns/MPs must make it their job to try to create/maintain jobs and get developers to interface with residents. But the traffic-clogged roads became anathema to development! How about the “moratorium to development” proposal?
Such an approach not only is not useful but spells disaster. Simply because there can be no moratorium to new people(numbering in the thousands) entering the job market, each with their own dreams. And their parents’ hopes behind their securing a job, etc. This is reality. And how long can we delay their entry into the job marketplace. Can we? Can PR pay for creative delaying ways?
The above largely account for the lack of ‘development’ direction in PR/DAP wakil rakyats, and the lack of ‘development’ support afforded to Tan Sri Khalid. The sluggish economic pace is slowly and surely becoming evident. This will soon haunt us and the Rakyat will then punish us for inept management of the state. Businesses will also decry on our talk-no-action approaches, our report cards showing only donations-of-small goodies but grossly lacking in major matters. Najib will then smell like a rose.
PR/DAP must wake up. The process of governance is no popular task. The bullet must be bitten. Painful unpopular decisions must be made, sometimes ‘offending’ local residents for the benefit of the larger community. History will be with us if we act transparently and honestly. The rakyat(local) will eventually respect us and support us, though there will be initial protests and revulsions. Remember the stakeholders include businesses, the larger community, and Tuanku(who wants Selangor to be a Developed state). But please do expect a reduced electorate majority the next time(election) around! Your MB (Khalid) need your genuine support to make painful decisions of governance. It is not good if two-thirds of his time end up in fire-fighting. Time must be vested to facilitating economic growth. Aduns must help him(MB) out.
This tension (rakyat vs businesses, with politicians leaning to either) is compounded by internal/factional local intraparty/interparty politics. Thus in one kawasan, unnecessary resources were wasted to parry factional political interferences. I assure you BN/MCA were chortling away at the circus. The kawasan citizenry suffered. Alas, how often decisions were made in the name of the ‘party’, when factional interests was the day. Such ‘party decisions’ stifle authentic growth as it only pandered to factional ‘growth’, solidifying vested interests.
The PBT(local councils) should have been excellent avenues for wakil rakyats to deputise able & mature people to administer and monitor the Councils. Alas it had become the ground for .to dole out political favours and expand factional interests. Quality is thus compromised for political(factional) loyalty. Poor quality councillors are of no match for entrenched inept pengarahs and YDPs. Here again is another circus, as energy was spent on politicking instead on proper council decision-making activities.
Be aware that this MACC-Aduns investigations may well throw many off the more urgent tasks of governance (providing service to kawasan, administering the Selangor State,etc) and instead get unproductively entangled with endless press conferences (to parry consecutive wild accusations churned out by unfriendly press. Aduns need to be focussed on the real issues. It is time to be pragmatic, but to do so transparently and accountably. That is our STRENGTH and our ace.