Petaling Jaya City Councillor (MBPJ), A Thiruvenggadam, has been given an ultimatum by PKR to substantiate his allegations on the questionable dealings between the Pakatan Rakyat-run Selangor government and solid waste management company Alam Flora Sdn Bhd.

mppj councilor thiruvenggedem 100609 In a show-cause letter from PKR's Petaling Jaya Selatan division, where Thiruvenggadam is a vice-chief, he has seven days to show proof of his allegations that the state has been distributing contracts to the three ruling parties based on a 40-30-30 quota.

The letter, dated June 18, requires Thiruvenggadam to bring forward his justifications and evidences in regards to his claims or face retributions for making false statements.

“I attended the division meeting and I briefed them on my claims... but they want me show proof and they also want me to apologise to the party,” said Thiruvenggadam when contacted.

However, he told Malaysiakini that he is not planning to respond to the show-cause letter, as he was playing his role as the “whistle-blower”.

The letter was signed by the Petaling Jaya Selatan PKR division acting-chairperson Sharifudin Budin.

'Why should I apologise?'

“My role was to bring this matter to the attention of the public... whatever I have said has been backed by the state's corrective measure to tackle the problem, why should I apologise?” he asked.

“The menteri besar understands and he is taking action by implementing open-balloting,” he added.

The dispute surface two weeks ago when Thiruvenggadam stated that Selangor had issued a directive to Alam Flora instructing the company to provide 70 per cent of its contracts to government-friendly companies for waste collection and removal.

According to him, the contracts were being awarded to companies linked to Selangor’s three ruling parties - 40 per cent to PKR, 30 per cent to DAP and 30 per cent to PAS - as a means to fund their divisions and branches.

He added that in return, the contractors would generously donate money to fund the parties division-level activities.

Thiruvenggadam had also blasted that such a system of awarding contracts to ruling parties was a form of nepotism and originally practised by the previous BN state government.

Although in the beginning, the state's executive councillors, who were believed to be linked to the matter had denied Thiruvenggadam's allegations, the government under the instruction of Menteri Besar Khalid Ibrahim, later set up an audit committee to probe the matter.

On June 17, the state government announced that it will now conduct open balloting for the appointment of contractors.