COMMENT Having discussed public perception and Khalid Ibrahim’s principles , let’s sink our teeth into the controversies currently surrounding Khalid Ibrahim’s government.

The perception has been built that Khalid is somehow very pro-Kidex. The facts, however, do not seem to necessarily bear this out.

There is no doubt that Khalid is a corporate man, sometimes given to corporate sensitivities. These sensitivities may make him appear defensive sometimes when faced with public disapproval of development projects that appear to have been done by the book.

I personally would not adopt such an approach myself. Neither would the likes of other chief executives and career politicians. Such people are well-versed in always appearing to be on the side of the people, no matter what.

Khalid does not necessarily appreciate the need to put up such a public image.

The question is however, does that mean that Khalid always sides with the corporations when it comes to corporations versus the people?

Softer ways of saying no

As far as I can remember, despite numerous misleading and sensational headlines, there is no record of Khalid saying anything like “The state government’s position is that Kidex must and will be built, no matter what.”

Instead, we hear Khalid saying things like, “We cannot simply throw this project out”, “A proper study must be completed before making the final decision” and so on.

Khalid supporters are generally neither pleased nor surprised to see these comments. He has displayed this attitude for some time now, and although it clearly does not win him any political points, he sticks to what he believes is the right way of doing things.

Khalid watchers do however have a better sense of what Khalid actually means when he says these things.

The best example by far is the Central Area Reinforcement (CAR) project by Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB), which involved building high tension cables through Kampung Sungai Terentang in Rawang.

For those of us who read the news, those names probably ring a bell. We might even remember villagers up in arms, demanding that their homes not be subject to the dangerous cables that TNB wanted to build through their village.

Some of us might remember villagers venting frustration at Khalid, and some may even remember an apparent lack of vigorous response by the state government to block this development for the good of the people.

How many of us though, know what happened in the end? I confess, even I didn’t (until reading this insightful exposition , and I used to work for the state government.

Providing what people want in his own way

It turns out that what Khalid did was once again, refuse to make any public statement rejecting or blocking the CAR initiative. This resulted in a lot of angry protest, with Pakatan politicians jumping up and down, acting as heroes of the people by fighting against the mean old state government - just as people are doing now with Kidex.

While this was going on in the limelight, out of the limelight, the state government quietly threw the book at TNB and the federal government, weighing TNB down in so many studies, regulations and requirements that in the end, TNB decided it was simply easier to change their plans and reroute their development.

No trumpets blaring, no garlands of accolades, no media frenzy; Khalid simply quietly achieved exactly what the villagers wanted in the first place, maybe had an extra cup of teh tarik to celebrate, and went on to the next problem that needed solving.

Kidex to go the same way?

While everyone cries bloody murder over Kidex, my guess is that Kidex will go the same way as TNB’s CAR - especially if the highway is in fact as bad and ineffective as everyone says it is.

The media focuses on Khalid’s admittedly less than charming off the cuff remarks, whereas the actual meeting minutes that were released via Selangor’s Freedom of Information enactment indicate only cautious and conditional approval in principle and pointed references to not privatising profit and socialising losses.

Khalid did it by the book with the CAR case, and it should come as no surprise that he plans to do it by the book with Kidex. This includes understanding the separations of power between federation and state, and basing any rejection of the project based on rules and regulations, not just public sentiment.

An interesting comparison of course, which I’m sure will be responsible for most negative comments on this article, is  Penang’s undersea tunnel project connecting the island to the mainland. While Kidex is a federal government project, the toll collecting Penang tunnel is an initiative of the Penang state government itself (a comprehensive comparison of the two projects can be found here .)

I suppose it is a testament to Penang’s focus on and investment in public relations that no one seems to raise any protest about the tunnel, while gunning mercilessly for Khalid on Kidex.

I think time will show how career politicians care first and foremost about how their actions are perceived and how it will affect their next elections, while statesmen care first and foremost about whether their actions are right, and whether they achieve goals that are truly in the interest of the people.

Part 1: Why do we think what we think about Khalid?

Part 2: MB Khalid's principles - real work vs fireworks

NATHANIEL TAN is unsure which is worse: traffic jams, or traffic jams caused by construction to lessen traffic jams. His background and motivation for writing this series were detailed in Part I of these ‘Khalid chronicles’ and he tweets @NatAsasi.