The best approach is always the moderate approach, so aptly Kedah PAS Menteri Besar Azizan Abdul Razak, puts it when he explained his style of running a state.

azizan abdul razak Though the historically agricultural state was considered poor by many, its MB said that the northwest state was still free of any financial problems due to prudent spending approaches.

Kedah was one of the five states that fell under the opposition electoral sweep on March 8 dubbed as a ‘political tsunami'.

PAS having won the most number of state assembly seats in Kedah subsequently with agreement from other opposition allies appointed Azizan as the MB.

Azizan, in an email interview with Malaysiakini, said that upon appointment he was never too keen on making drastic changes that would require heavy spending.

"I have been an opposition member for 13 years and opposition leader for Kedah for six years, so I know everything there is to know about state management.

"If you compare us to other states like Selangor which has a reserve of RM2 billion and Perak with RM800 million, Kedah has only RM200 million," explained the 64-year-old Azizan in the e-mail.

Pledges fulfilled

Apart from the positive impact of thrifty state spending, Kedah despite being under the rule of PAS, said Azizan, has not encountered any problems with federal government officials, agencies as well as the state's monarch.

"Of course there are problems but they don't go to the extent of burdening the people and affecting state administrating efficiency," he said.

Azizan also said that the new state government was trying its best to fulfil its election promises like decreasing the current assessment rate between 70 to 30 percent in order to lighten the burden for Kedahans.

He also said that his state administration has fulfilled their pledge of having an open tender system.

"We have also redirected the MB and state executive councillors' allowances to the Tunku Mahmud Trust Fund for more people-oriented programmes, tightened enforcement laws to curb social ills and strengthen bonds with non-Muslims," he said.

He also added that the new state government was in the process of establishing service centres in all the state assembly constituencies and was working towards creating a more ‘investor friendly' state.

Below are excerpts of the rest of the interview:

What are the unfulfilled promises?

Azizan: What we are planning right now is to increase the standards of public transportation in Kedah, develop bigger markets in certain towns, solve garbage disposal problems and implement the 90-day maternal leave, which requires a little more research.

Is the state government facing any harassment from the BN and Umno leaders in Kedah?

We have never done anything to disturb them. This kind of political culture is an unhealthy one so we will never do anything like that. But if they want to, it's up to them.

What are your priorities now that people have accused the state government of having a financial crisis?

Who told you that we don't have money? We are not facing any financial crisis and we are convinced and believe that if we keep the spending the way we do now (wisely), we can continue to spend to meet the needs of the people of Kedah.

We are not interested in drastic development. I have been an opposition member for 13 years and six years as opposition leader for Kedah so I know the every thing there is to know about state management, we solve financial problems wisely.

If you compare it to other states like Selangor which has a reserve of RM2 billion and Perak with RM800 million, Kedah have only RM200 million.

We have cut management costs as much as RM10 million which is 30 percent from the existing allocation and this is what we call wise spending.

We have also identified the various issues that affect our financial situation and are working towards amending those loopholes so we don't face this problem in the future.