Khir is jealous of Selangor's transparency efforts: Pakatan

Wong Choon Mei, Malaysia Chronicle

In what Pakatan Rakyat leaders described was a “fit of jealousy”, Selangor Umno leaders led by former mentri besar Khir Toyo have rushed to insist that a state-initiated probe against Klang municipal councilor Tee Boon Hock be handed over to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission.

“Well, Khir Toyo is famous for his intelligence but even so, they are really testing everybody’s patience. In the first place, Mentri Besar Khalid Ibrahim has already found Boon Hock guilty and sacked him. He has said he will leave it to the police or the MACC to go after Boon Hock if they wish,” PKR strategic director Tian told Malaysia Chronicle.

“Khalid has already done what he needs to. Remember MACC said it was police case and Ronnie Liu has already lodged a police report. So if the authorities want to act, they can anytime go after Boon Hock. Nobody is stopping them, so what is Khir and his gang after? This is just a tantrum to take away the Pakatan’s credit with the people.”

Khir's grouse was that an internal probe was not good enough, but instead of asking why the police and the MACC did not take immediate action, he chose to bait his political rivals.

“The Selangor government is not taking action,” said Dr Khir. They should refer it to MACC because it involves public funds. They are trying to divert the issue by taking internal action."

Ronnie's turn

On Thursday afternoon, Ronnie himself will be facing the DAP disciplinary board. He has been accused by Tee of sanctioning recommendation or support letters issued to some 20 firms. These letters of endorsement have helped the firms win contracts from the state government worth more than RM1 million.

If Ronnie is found guilty, he stands to be sacked. Tee was sacked from DAP last month after the party’s disciplinary board found that at least one of the support letters had been issued to a firm controlled by his family members.

Khalid, who called for a separate state government audit, came to the same conclusion and removed Tee from the Klang council on Wednesday.

Teng Chang Khim, the state Speaker, has also been hauled by the DAP disciplinary council for having tweeted OMG! Real culprit freed. He has been asked by chairman of the disciplinary board Tan Kok Wai to clarify what his tweet meant.

"I cannot say whether I'm confident because it will be disrespectful to the committee. I will provide them with the witnesses' statements, if they don't believe my story, they can call the witnesses," Malaysiakini reported Teng as having said.

Pace-setting benchmark for political transparency

The DAP board has also invited 15 Selangor contractors as witnesses to explain the support letters they allegedly obtained from Liu for various projects.

In defending himself, Tee said all the support letters were issued with Ronnie’s full knowledge, which Ronnie has died. The Pandamaran MP has lodged a police report against unknown people misusing his letterheads and forging his signature.

Thursday’s DAP disciplinary meeting is much watched as a pace-setting benchmark for political transparency in Malaysia.

The Pakatan Rakyat’s strong anti-corruption stance is one of the main winning factors in their manifesto, while the Umno-led BN government has become riddled with endemic corruption after 53 years of political dominance.