What if we lost Selangor to UMNO/BN?

Democracy can only become a powerful force in our country if all our leaders observe a greater sense of maturity when it comes to governance.

COMMENT

By Chua Tong Ka

We have a political coalition controlling 44 seats (before Khalid Ibrahim was sacked by his party) out of 56 seats in the Selangor State Assembly but somehow the state government frequently experiences paralysis of some form or another from time to time.

Have we spared a thought as to why the situation has become so pathetic?

I believe there was an attempt by the Pakatan-led state government of Selangor to do the right thing about water when it first took power. I believe the state government initially asserted its rightful jurisdiction over water to safeguard public interests in the state.

Hence the start of negotiations with water concessionaires and the federal government on the takeover of privatised entities as well as the implementation of the Langat 2 project, which became drawn-out and difficult.

The same goes with the confiscated Bibles. I believe the state government initially wanted the issue resolved quickly and amicably, but somehow this too hit a wall.

The Kidex (Kinrara-Damansara Expressway) issue meanwhile was conceived elsewhere and then imposed on the state government.

My question is this – if the present state government of Selangor was under UMNO/BN, would current issues like water privatisation (including water tariffs), confiscated Bibles and Kidex have become the major issues that they are today?

If Khalid was an UMNO/BN Menteri Besar, would his debt problem with Bank Islam have been suspicious?

We have a multi-tiered system of government (i.e. federal, state and local authorities) but do we have what it takes to make this system work?

The unequal distribution of power and jurisdiction between the federal and state governments is very real in Malaysia.

So far, everything is hunky dory in states where the federal, state and local authorities all belong to one political party or coalition.

On the other hand, if different political parties or coalitions are in control of different tiers of government, things get either very difficult with possibly the weaker party/coalition forced to surrender due to coercion, threats or compromises.

This is my take of what is happening in Selangor today.

Political power has the tendency to consolidate and become absolute. UMNO/BN through its control of the federal government and other institutions of government have become way too powerful.

I think the present Selangor government has failed to play its role to protect democracy and the rights of the people.

Right now, many are anxious and some are blaming PKR and Pakatan Rakyat for the mess they have created in Selangor.

The real issue however is the level of maturity of all the participants in our so-called democracy whether it be the state government, the federal government, royalty and other institutions of government.

Democracy is more time consuming and at times can be construed as inefficient but I believe it is a better system to ensure fairer decisions.

We must all give democracy a chance to continue to flourish in this country.