I refer to Malaysiakini report, Khir Toyo: I cry for the squatters too . How pathetic it is to see the chief executive of the country’s most developed state shedding crocodile tears to show his empathy for the poor and downtrodden in Selangor.

Records have shown that under his rule, a lot of squatters - where the poor live under trying conditions - had their roofs and shelters torn down by bulldozers to make way for housing projects. Land is scare in Selangor and any open space being populated by squatters with no land title is fair game for greedy housing developers who work in cahoots with the state government to evict them.

Earlier Mohd Khir Toyo was caught in a political controversy involving a huge green lung in Shah Alam’s Bukit Cahaya turning into an ecological disaster where the flora and fauna there were replaced with concrete jungles. It was only with the timely intervention from the prime minister which forced the state government to take legal action against the well-connected developers.

Even then the paltry sums imposed by the court against the developers are too small a price for the ‘rape’ of the environment, leaving those living in the surrounding areas deluged with flash floods whenever Mother Nature decides to fight back. One wonders why government agencies turn a blind eye to the misdeeds of greedy developers who will cut corners to make more profits from their housing projects.

Then we have the case of Istana Zakaria controversy where the Port Klang state assemblyman build a palatial palace on a piece of land where he had bought for a song. Although he broke several by-laws in building his castle, he received only a slap on the wrist while other lesser mortals would have their building demolished if they don’t follow proper procedures in the extension of their houses.

Mind you, Zakaria Deros is not the only politician who can buy state land cheap. Other high and mighty personalities have use their political influence to ask for state land at basement-bargain prices. The list of abuse by our local politicians who are there to ‘feather their nests’ at the common people expense is getting from bad to worse without the guilty parties paying for their sins.

If the government had been fair in distributing the economic wealth, there will less poverty in this country and more poor people can purchase subsided low-cost houses or flats to put their families under a proper roof.

The previous top honcho of Selangor had to leave office under a cloud due to personal problems and the present menteri besar is himself no short of controversies. After serving two terms, he should aim for a bigger political post, but he knows that if he vacate his powerful post, he will lose grassroots support as political patronage will go to the one who replaced him in the top post of the state. Thus it is no surprise why he wants to go for a third term as menteri besar.

But it is not for Khir Toyo to decide. I am sure there are a lot of other local politicians who are lobbying the prime minster and his powerful son-in-law to replace the incumbent in the next polls. Past records had shown that other chief ministers who were moved to the federal level faced a political graveyard as eventually they will lose their power base.

Just asked the previous chief ministers of Perak, Negri Sembilan and Malacca after they move to federal level. They are history now and Khir Toyo knows the score. To borrow a line from Shakespeare - to stay or not to stay, that is the question...