Today, the Selangor Pakatan Rakyat government is celebrating its one-year anniversary following its electoral victory, a win that saw BN ousted from the state for the first time in the country’s history.

Its triumph in the March 8 “poll war”, although some may argue otherwise, can plausibly be credited to its vows to replace what Pakatan alleged as corrupt governance with the implementation of a transparent and efficient one.

PKR, a “young kid” in comparison to the two major parties in the Pakatan coalition, on that historical day embedded itself in both its own party, and of the country’s political grand narration when it constitute the majority to form the new state government.

The “democratisation of Selangor’s economy” became the catchphrase PKR Menteri Besar Abdul Khalid Ibrahim would want the citizens of this commercially richest state to remember him by.

This was rhetorically in line with Pakatan’s proclamation, indited in its election manifesto, to implement equitable socio-economic policies in the form of reduced service fees and increased welfare spending.

khalid ibrahim interview 070309 02 Abdul Khalid, a former corporate figure with vast experience running a giant multinational firm, claimed Selangor can surpassed its present economic achievement by eradicating corruption and the ever detrimental crony-economics.

But of course, the Selangor people have heard all of this before. Popular politics have taught them the obsolescent of slogans caused by no other than the failure of past governments to concretely materialise the mere appeals of popular vows.

Public welcome 20cu m of free water

Political economic analyst Muaz Omar think that overall with the exclusion of the water fees reduction programme , the implementation of its election manifesto like improving public service delivery and creating employment opportunities is not that visible.

“I am sure they have tried to work on the ground but so far the programmes they have been seen doing do not really affect the average person,” he said.

As a matter of fact, a random conversation with any denizens of Selangor would prompt a conventional reply on the state government’s water reduction programme.

water paips Many believe the free supply of the first 20 cubic metres of water for every household in the state has helped them in their daily lives.

This programme can be considered the “votes-guaranteed asset” of the Selangor Pakatan government and this is evident in the length it has undergone to ensure that it has total control over the privatised water industry to maintain low water services fees.

Its ambitions led Selangor to offer a total of RM5.184 billion to four water concessionaires running the state’s water assets but the proposal has since been stalled after the National Water Services Commission (Span) backtrack on the federal government decision to allow the state to conduct the takeover.

“We know it’s not easy for Pakatan to start fresh and implement their election manifesto given all the obstacles and it’s not going to be any easier with the lack of communication even between leaders from different Pakatan parties,” commented Muaz further.

low siew moi and pkns selangor Muaz said the split and breakdown in communication between the different parties is visible especially in the racial fiasco involving Abdul Khalid’s appointment of Low Siew Moi as the acting head of the state’s Malay-dominated subsidiary Perbadanan Kemajuan Negeri Selangor (PKNS).

Not only did the protest against this decision come from the staff of PKNS, objections came also from a fellow Pakatan heavyweight, PAS Selangor chief Dr Hassan Ali, who openly stated that only Malays can implement policies.

The objections forced Abdul Khalid to form an ad-hoc committee to seek a Malay candidate and had Low replaced with Othman Omar.

Communication breakdown

Another example of the communication breakdown between Pakatan leaders is the RM100 million pig farm project in Kuala Langat where PAS was seen to have been tightlipped on the matter.

The project and Abdul Khalid were however lauded by the non-Malay community as a brave decision but the menteri besar suffered a political setback when the Malays thought of it as culturally insensitive.

The modern pig farming project had also came under fire after Umno-run Malay dailies played up the issue with prominent coverage of protests by NGOs and residents.

“In this episode, we can see how Pakatan and Abdul Khalid executed a horrible public relations exercise and this was admitted by the menteri besar himself.

Relocation of Klang bus station “The Pakatan government should have studied the issue first before making any decision which is to say, there is a breakdown in communication between state cabinet members,” remarked Muaz who added that the Klang bus terminal fiasco is also another example.

But as any advocates of political change would say, real transformation is a process. Most of the time, it is a slow process and the new Pakatan government cannot be excluded from this logic.

“It is important to understand that the issues of public service delivery like public transportation or employment are very gray areas. The public need to understand if they can actually get these things from the state government or the federal government.

“There is very little that Selangor can do in terms of all this given the strong centralisation system that is practised in this country,” commented political analyst Khoo Kay Peng.

Khoo said although the Pakatan Selangor government have not performed at its optimum level, the same can be said about the BN-led federal government.

But in Selangor’s case, Khoo said the Pakatan-led administration have done quite well in executing its task transparently while cultivating a more democratic culture not often seen in the past administration.

'Brutal' war between BN and Pakatan

“We can see clearly how Selangor is trying to fulfil its promises of transparent governance in the form of initiating wide consultation programmes with affected parties on various state policies.

“I think both sides (state government and its federal counterpart) should calm down and focus on more important issues like the decentralisation of the economy,” said Khoo.

However, the events in this past one year have shown that Umno and BN, led by the former menteri besar Dr Mohd Khir Toyo are not willing to let Pakatan take a smooth ride.

khalid ibrahim khir toyo bukit antarabangsa landslide disaster In fact the 'brutal' war between these two coalitions have led to grave repercussions for both sides following both Abdul Khalid and Khir’s exchanges of corruption allegations against each other.

Abdul Khalid, following allegations raised by Khir, now face real possibilities of facing legal prosecution after the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission chief openly stated that the body has strong evidence of abuse of power against the menteri besar.

This have prompted Abdul Khalid to retaliate in a series of exposure on Khir’s alleged graft activities during his time as menteri besar.

Umno and BN have also been accused as the main perpetrator behind the circulation of nude photos of a Pakatan senior official, executive councillor and Bukit Lanjan state representative Elizabeth Wong.

Wong have since offered her resignation but the party leadership has yet to accept it. Rumours are rife that the delay in her resignation was a way for PKR to avoid having to contest in three by-elections.

Though the observations and thoughts of analysts vary in their assessment of Selangor’s one-year performance, it is fair to say all agree that to judge the success of the Selangor Pakatan government at this time is “rather unfair”.

“They have to overcome all these tough obstacles. But we should be fair and give them more time. I honestly think they’ve done quite well for the past year,” said Khoo.

“Yes, we should give them more time. It's too early to say they have failed or otherwise. Let’s see if they can step up to their promises. I hope they do,” said Muaz.