Casey: Selangor MB Abdul Khalid Ibrahim  is resorting to the same strategy as BN: hiding under the pants of the Official Secrets Act (OSA).In his case, he took it to the extreme; even the state exco was precluded from sighting the numerous MOUs and heads of agreements – or whatever you call them.Unlike sensitivity of military intelligence or security issues; hard infrastructure, like water treatment and reticulation, roads and highways, and electricity generation, are direct parts of civilian life.

Being the direct consumers and stakeholders, the people have the right to know the details and how these infrastructures are being planned, rationalised or executed.

And the government has to come clean instead of hiding under the “convenient” shield of OSA.

In April, a consortium of MMC, Ahmad Zaki Resources and Salcon, announced that it had been awarded the contract to construct the 1.13 billion litres/day or 1.13 million m3/day capacity Langat 2 water treatment plant for circa RM1 billion.

Whereas in June, Selangor MB Khalid Ibrahim insisted that Langat 2, as part of the raw water transfer project, will proceed with a price tag of RM3.6 billion.

I’d said that “plutocratic Malaysia, since Mahathir the Great, has always been a government subsidised, bubble-inflating, swindlers’ game; in which, the leeches and plutocratic personalities – not the true job creators but the rent seekers – thrive.”

The amount of “rents” or “tolls” asserted by these greedy plutocrats and their callous political masters are simply mind-boggling and beyond comprehension to the ordinary people.

Based on a survey published by US Environmental Protection Agency, the unit construction cost of a filter treatment plant would be circa USD138 per m3/day at today’s price.

That be the case, the cost of construction for the 1.13 million m3/day Langat 2 plant should be no more than circa, USD144.6 million, or RM457 million at today’s exchange rate of RM3.16/USD.

And that’s at nominal exchange rate. If we adjust that for purchasing power parity (PPP), the cost of construction should be more akin to RM306 million, with PPP exchange rate of RM1.5/USD..

Proarte:  The fact that Azizah has no clue or comment to make about the illegal seizure of the 300 copies of the Bibles is very worrying as it points to her moral cowardice and lack of concern for religious minorities.

Similarly she has no comment to make about Kidex and talks about the Water agreements with Umno as a ‘done deal’.

There only proactive thing she will do is to play Santa Claus with the Selangor state coffers to effectively buy support. Her advisors she mentioned would include her husband Anwar. If this is not nepotism, I do not know what is.

The impression she is giving is that of someone who is ineffectual and incompetent and I am now beginning to have doubts about her suitability for the MB post.

If the sultan does not accept Azizah, I think Pakatan would be well advised to support PKR deputy president Azmin Ali for the post without complaining so he can get on with providing Selangor with leadership and direction.

Speaking sense: Azizah seems to be sending the right signals. We should support her right to prove herself and so give this country a chance to be rid of the Umno/BN scourge under a Pakatan government.

Changeagent: One wonders how an agreement between the state and federal government can be classified under OSA?  What is it that you have to hide from the public? Aren’t you spending our money?

Aries46: In normal circumstances, the exco would be implicated under the concept of collective decision-making and joint responsibility.

But in Selangor, recalcitrant Khalid was running the state roughshod like his personal fiefdom. The exco was more like a window dressing to rubber stamp as what we have witnessed.

For instance, if there was collective decision making, how did Khalid, out of nowhere, quietly sign the water MOU that is now concealed under the OSA with none of his assemblymen and party leaders having an inkling of the whole charade?

What can an exco do under an autocratic MB, weighted down with an RM60 million baggage, making billion ringgit deals that supposedly aided and abetted the cronies of the Umno/BN opposition to the detriment of Selangorians.

Are they expected to pass a vote of no confidence knowing that the whole apparatus of opposition was salivating to go for the kill? On hindsight, hasn’t Khalid proven to be worse than the factors that necessitated his removal?

Oh Ya?: How could it be blamed squarely on Khalid? The entire exco must be sacked too. How could they be sleeping on their job and claim that it is Khalid who singled-handedly made these decisions?

Weren’t some of them present at the signing ceremonies too? Just admit it, Pakatan is equally incompetent as the ruling elite. And so long they still carry the same Umno DNA, nothing would change.

Behsaikong: Yes, you can blame it on him because he was not consulting his exco nor giving them appointments to see him. And when they did get the appointments he more often than not did not fulfil what had been agreed.

He wants to be the Lone Ranger and even saw fit to leave Tonto behind.  He shouldn’t put his exco in front of him when he is being shot at.

Joe Lee: Syabas, kak Azizah. We definitely would like to ‘bagi chance’ to you to bring forth a healthy and democratic future for Selangor and for Malaysia. Let’s chase the bad asses back into their foxholes. And keep them there.

Anonymous_40f4: The photo of the rushed water deal signing ceremony between Khalid and Ongkili with Najib and Muhyiddin smiling at the back, says it’s a done deal. Selangorians got screwed.

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