COMMENTS: If voters in Selangor takes the performance of the current State Government as the determining factor of to vote, it is not difficult to predict which party will administer the state after the 13th General Elections (GE-13).
Put simply, victory in the GE-13 can be considered to be definitely in the hands of Pakatan Rakyat (PR).
From terms of administrative efficiency, right up to the policies introduced, the Selangor PR administrative government is well ahead of the 50 years when Umno-BN led the previous administration.
Even the Auditor General’s report praised the financial management of Selangor.
The Selangor state reserves jumped from RM400 million left by BN in 2008 to RM2.5 billion when the 2013 Budget was tabled last November.
The increased amount of reserves has enabled the State Government to implement projects for the welfare of the people, including the construction of the third bridge in Klang which was previously a promise that Umno-BN failed to fulfill.
The efficiency of the Chief Minister, Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim in solving issues that BN had failed to solve for decades should also open the eyes of voters in this state.
These include the success of collecting bad debts of RM392 million from Talam Corporation, which BN had failed to do previously.
Completing Abandoned Housing Projects
Also, in less than four years, the State Government has managed to end the decades of suffering of the unit buyers of abandoned housing projects in Selangor.
For 707 urban settlers who were promised land in the Bukit Botak resettlement scheme by Umno-BN but was resolved by the PR State Government, they would certainly not forget the agony of the 30-year-long wait under the Umno-BN administration.
This is similar for the 260 low-cost house buyers of Block E, Petaling Jaya Selatan (PJS) 1, who were also relieved when the project that was abandoned for nine years was taken over by the State Government.
More than 7,000 land settlers were also relieved when their decades of anticipation was ended when the State Government presented to them their land grants.
Recognising the burden of premium payments borne by applicants, the State Government had also taken steps in fixing the premium payment at only RM1,000 compared to the previous amount which was 20 percent of the value of the land.
Under PR, the people of Selangor are also considered lucky compared to states under BN when they were given the opportunity to enjoy the wealth of the state through various contributions from the 16 Merakyatkan Ekonomi Selangor (MES – Localising the Selangor Economy) schemes.
Beginning from the Free Water Scheme, the Selangor Children Heritage Fund (Tawas), Senior Citizens Scheme (SMUE – Skim Mesra Usia Emas), right up to the Kindergarten Assistance Scheme; all of which is for the people of Selangor with very reasonable conditions.
Electoral Roll Ghosts
However, the excellent track record of the PR State Government is difficult to bet on when dealing with the Electoral Commission’s (EC) Electoral Roll which is disorderly.
As of November last year, the Selangor Democratisation Project report revealed that there were 134,675 unidentified voters who were registered in this state, an amount sufficient to topple the PR State Government.
BERSIH Chairman, Datuk Ambiga also informed that the Malaysian Electoral Roll Analysis Project (MERAP) had also detected the same illegal activity in the electoral roll for the fourth quarter of 2012.
Opposition Leader, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim had raised various doubts in the EC electoral roll such as finding that the birthdate of voters were the same date as the application to vote and other such issues in the House of Representatives.
However, his revelation did not get any response from the EC, a commission which is considered a ‘deaf’ body by certain groups of society.
Meanwhile, the Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) regarding the IC project issue in Sabah, revealed that BN had given citizenship easily to foreigners to overthrow the Sabah State Government which was led by the Sabah Uniter Party (PBS) at that time.
The IC Project in Sabah allegedly involves several political parties, government agencies and independent bodies such as the EC, the National Registration Department (NRD) and the Immigration Department.
According to witness in the RCI investigation lately, Datuk Abdul Rauf Sani, who was the former director of the Sabah NRD, estimated more than 100,000 to 200,000 identification for foreigners were signed by him.
Apart from Abdul Raud, the investigation also brought forward the Sabah NRD Registration Senior Assistant, Yakub Damsah and other witnesses to testify before the RCI.
Statements of several witnesses clearly mentioned the involvement of the EC in this IC project issue, altogether proving the inferiority of this commission’s integrity to conduct the elections in this country.
Back to the political context of Selangor, it is not impossible that at this moment, Umno-BN, with the cooperation of the EC and other government departments are working to ensure that victory is in Umno-BN’s favour in the upcoming general elections.
In fact, it would not be surprising that with assistance of a dirty electoral roll, Umno-BN manages to comfortably win with a two-third majority at the Selangor State Assembly stage.
The Selangor Government is of course aware, that to defend a State Government as rich as Selangor, it is not enough to just give the best service to its citizens alone.
Hence, the State Government with the help of friends from PR is finding a different formula to implement greater pressure on the horses ridden by Umno-BN.
The fate and future of the people lies in the hands of the people themselves, do not let the EC take it away by cheating by means of a dirty EC electoral roll.