LEMBAH JAYA, 6 Dec: The Assemblyman for Lembah Jaya, Khasim Abdul Aziz, admitted that his salary was not only inadequate but an additional of RM1,000 has to be allocated every month to help the people in the area.
Khasim said, however, he was lucky because he could get the additional money needed from the aluminium and glass company which he has ran for over 20 years.
“I experienced this first hand. Prior to becoming an Assemblyman, my income is one hundred percent mine. However, now, for representatives of the people who really do work, an income of RM6,000 is merely transit.
“The fact is that not the entire salary earned is ours, but is for the people and in my opinion, the increase announces is not very high. If you do not believe, you can ask people who always come with me to programmes or come to programmes such as this, where I would have to help them with a donation,” he said.
This is a frank acknowledgement by Khasim when met by Selangor Kini at the Closing Ceremony of the Smart English & Bijak Matematik (Smart Mathematics) Programme here at Kampung Ampang Indah yesterday.
Khasim said that he has faith that Malaysian are able to understand the real situation if they are given the opportunity to know the real lives of representatives of the people.
“If ones faith is not strong, wages are not adequate and the people ask for help, then it would make the individual vulnerable to corruption. In addition, they will abuse power, ask big bosses and earn a commission from projects. However, this does not happen in Selangor.
“With the salary increase announced by the Chief Minister recently, we can at least support our family and not have to worry anymore. Thus, we can be more committed to the people,” he said.
Khasim is the incumbent of the Lembah Jaya Assemblyman seat since 2008 and is regarded as a leader that is well-liked by the local community.
his concern for the problems of the people, often going down to the ground to meet with grassroots communities and his humility makes Khasim a sounding board of the people when they are faced with adversity.