The inability of Universiti Selangor to pay off its debts shows that the Pakatan Rakyat state government has failed, said former Menteri Besar Dr Mohd Khir Toyo.

In a blog posting today, he said that Unisel's woes only started in 2008, proving that this is due to Pakatan's mismanagement.

The Selangor government owns the university.

NONE “At the recent assembly sitting, Permatang assemblyperson Sulaiman Abdul Razak...said that Unisel's income (had) dropped from RM94.4 million in 2008 to RM93.51 million (2009) and RM75.48 million (2010).

“Strangely, the state government denies a top in student intake and income. (Aren’t) these statements (contradictory)?”

Khir said Selangor Menteri Besar Abdul Khalid Ibrahim is also trying to run away from the issue by placing the blame on the previous BN-led administration.  

Abdul Khalid had yesterday said the situation was due to agreements signed by the BN-led administration, which had sided with concessionaires.

“We want to take care of student welfare, so the government has instructed Unisel to focus on operations and to not worry about the debts,” Bernama had quoted him as saying.

'Not BN's fault'

Defending the BN administration which he had headed, Khir said that the build-operate-transfer model was approved by a bank as the project was viable.

“This included the viability of the student housing to house a number of students to ensure that the construction costs were covered,” he said.

“Unisel's inability to pay off its debts to the concessionaire proves the state government has failed to manage Unisel as planned by the BN government.”

He added that Pakatan had even gotten it easily, as they only had to take over without having to find ways to build the university.

“It is also odd that the university keeps collecting fees for student housing, and yet the student housing operators have not received a sen. Where did the money go?” he asked.