PKR CONGRESS Selangor menteri besar hopeful Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail said the state’s sizeable financial reserves are “meaningless” unless spent on public amenities and infrastructure.

The PKR president said while the state’s existing programmes and its RM3 billion in reserves are something to be proud of, there are still issues that need to be dealt with.

 

“We need to be focused on people’s issues that need attention:like in the case of Kajang, the roads in which the Malaysian Road Records Information System (Marris) funds allocated  remained unspent.

 

“If basic amenities for the state’s residents are neglected, the reserve funds don’t give much meaning,” she said in her policy speech at the PKR party congress today.

 

Her statement appears to be a veiled attack on the incumbent Menteri Besar Abdul Khalid Ibrahim, who has often boasted of his administrative acumen, citing the reserves.

Many, however ,have criticised the MB for not spending more of the reserves on the state's welfare and infrastructure.

In her speech, the Kajang assemblyperson also highlighted the high incidence of dengue cases in the state and called for the eradication of the disease.

In addition, she mooted low-interest microcredit schemes for women and young entrepreneurs, well-maintained roads, clean drains, skills training programmes, and higher quality of education.

“Education reforms need to be continued throughout the primary, secondary, and higher (education) levels. Selangor should become an education hub and a Pakatan Rakyat model state.

“Apart from basic infrastructure and environment, we need to stress on  the quality of education.

"Universiti Selangor (Unisel) Selangor International Islamic University College (Kuis), (and) training institutes under Selangor’s administration need to be improved,” she said.

'Review party election process'

Elsewhere, Wan Azizah also spoke on the security and illegal immigration issues in Sabah and preparations for the upcoming Sarawak state election in her speech.

“PKR calls for the complete report of the royal commission of inquiry (RCI) on illegal immigrants in Sabah that was presented to the agong be made public,” she said.

The commission's report was submitted to the Agong on May 14 but three months on, it has yet to be released tot he public.

Turning her attention to party affairs, she said the recent party election had showed weaknesses in the process and urged the central election committee (JPP) to propose improvements.

She said the weaknesses are in areas of infrastructure, equipment and assets, orderly conduct, and lack of education among party members and leaders.

She urged the JPP to study the issue and take account of views from party members and grassroots leaders, and then table thefindings to the JPP.

PKR vice president Nurul IZzah Anwar on May 12 admitted that there were many weaknesses in the party election process, resulting chaos in several divisions.

The chaos had led to the party election to be postponed to a later date.

Perak PKR chairman Muhammad Nur Manuty, meanwhile, on May 6  had said that  the omission of members’ names in the ballot papers should not be blamed on the leadership of the related PKR divisions, as the listing of members can be done by the central committee.