Open letter to Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim, Menteri Besar of Selangor

Dear Tan Sri,

Selangor still needs you.

I first met and was mesmerised by your commitment to reformation in 2009, when you attended a Chinese New Year celebration hosted by Selangor state exco member Elizabeth Wong.

I was happy that, despite being a rich man yourself, you saw the need to give of your time to enter politics and stop the further plunder of the wealth in the state of Selangor by the Barisan Nasional regime.

There was another occasion, during a press conference, when I threw a tough question to you, but I was amazed that, despite your bumbling, you gave a very good answer that showed the maturity of your thoughts.

However, after 2013, I noticed that your energy level has dropped quite a fair bit and with the constant onslaught by the BN regime, you appeared to be allowing things go out of hands. It may be difficult for you to see it, but as an observer and a third party, this is what I saw.

You may have meant well with the Kidex issue, but you did not realise that it was a game of politics to disconnect the Selangor state exco from the rest of us who voted you in.

The same with the water issue. We can see from the numerous propaganda that was spread in both the mainstream and online media, the plan was to kill off the Pakatan government in Selangor.

Till now, we still see the game is on, because the same people in the water concessionaires are still in control. Frequent water cuts are done now and blamed on you, although many of us know the tussles between Syabas and the state government.

My last straw was over the raid on the Bible Society of Malaysia (BSM). Until today, the Bibles are still not returned but thank God, the real culprits are now known. From the appeal that is being filed by the Home Ministry against the High Court decision on Jill Ireland's case, and even the case with the Catholic Herald, we can see who are behind the entire ‘Allah’ controversy.

I do not blame you for allowing the BSM raid controversy to drag on, but we need someone who would make a stand and right what is wrong.

The legal advisers have already stated that the decision by the attorney-general was final, and not even the sultan has the power of prosecution given that he is a constitutional monarch; therefore, your role as menteri besar should be to advise the sultan and implement the AG’s decision.

The AG could not enforce his decision on the Selangor Islamic Affairs Council (Mais) or the Selangor Islamic Affairs Department (Jais). We also do not expect you to be able to whip Mais or Jais to follow your instruction, but it suffices for us to just know that this was your instruction instead of playing to Mais’ game. After the matter was referred to the court, as requested by the sultan, what is the decision now?

Playing the political game to make you look bad

I am aware that you have instructed Jais to return the Alkitab according to the laws, but how many people have the same insight into the matter? Jais under the instruction of Mais will continue to play the political game, and simply make you look bad by not following your instruction.

This has nothing to do with religion or the fear that Muslims will be converted to Christianity, but simply the politics used since Dr Mahathir Mohamad's time to “unite” Umno under his wings. He has achieved his objectives and Umno is what it is today because of the former prime minister.

What you and others should have done is to make a strong stand once and for all. After all, no good Muslim can show me where in the Quran is it stated that Allah forbad non-Muslims from using His name, what’s more someone from Mais or the Jais!

This is all a political game, played by people with vested interest. Very few people are willing to speak up for the truth except the Member of Parliament for Shah Alam, Khalid Samad.

This is one reason why I wrote a scathing criticism against your administration. However, in retrospect, I am letting you know that Selangor still needs someone like you, in areas where you have indeed excelled.

Looking at it from the bigger picture, it is now not about who is going to be the next menteri besar or whether you will stay on, but the big Malaysian hope is to see a change of federal government by the 14th general election.

We have seen how corrupted, wicked and arrogant the BN government has been in the past 57 years, and it is time for a change. Even with people like Paul Low, despite his portfolio, is not in a position to introduce more concrete plans to improve integrity and governance in the present government.

Therefore, even if you stand as a candidate for my constituency, Tan Sri Khalid, I would still vote for you although I fully agree now that you have to relinquish your post, not so that you can spend more time with your grandchildren, but because we need to move on.

As a country, we are in critical times. The job is not finished yet, until Malaysians see a new government in place.

STEPHEN NG is a chemist by training. He dealt with printing ink, paint and emulsion polymer for 15 years before becoming a freelance writer.